Takato Wong
by Tajeri Lynn Extremo Luchadore
Summary: Updated! In the year 2010, Takato and the Wongs face the challenge of relinking the Digital World to earth. But a brooding monstrosity threatens to demolish both worlds altogether. PART 1 IS COMPLETED. SEQUEL COMING 2004!
1. The Wong that I Am

A/N: Buenos Noches, or Buenos Dias, Amigos! I am Tajeri Lynn, the Extremo Luchadore, and you've been warped into the novella that is "Takato Wong", based on characters from Digimon Tamers 03. Immerse yourself into a Digimon adventure like no other, because in Takato's world, Anarchy Rulz the streets of Japan and someone's got to be found Guilty As Charged.

Tamers comes to you from the popular Digidome under Fox Kids, Saban, and of course, Toei Animation. Let's get digi with it, senors and senoritas!

Note: This story is set a decade after the ending of the Digimon Tamers. So almost everyone has their digimon back. Ain't that dandy?

TAKATO WONG

Phase A: Another Wong

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Takato Wong.

Takato Wong.

I know what you'd say.

But your ears aren't playing tricks on you.

You should call me by that my name now…

If 10 whole years is what you can _call_ "now"….

Some say only I can still tell the difference between baking soda and baking powder.

Others would say I still had hair as brown as the sugar on my dad's sweet breads.

And still, there are those who say my smile's just the kind of thing to keep them up and going for days on end.

But there's one thing that's not still there anymore.

I'm not a Matsuda.

I'm a Wong now.

There was this earthquake that tore through Shinjuku, not long after I found the Digital World again…The high school had been revised the summer before, and I was saved. But the bakery…the Matsuda bakery….I know you can finish the rest of that story, because I just can't.

Why didn't I end up living around Kai, you ask? Talk about your bad luck, and I mean really, really bad luck. My speedy cousin and his family were visiting the bakery that very same day. So there I was in the school hallway, silent of the news that they all had to go away, and I never even got to say goodbye to them. It was strange, but for once, I didn't cry, not a tear through all this time. I don't know why…Maybe it was because I had seen too many friends go away, real or not, and maybe this didn't feel abrupt, but rather…expected… I never got to see their faces ever again; I was told I shouldn't, and maybe that's how it must be. To me, they'll never really be gone. Just as I had seen Guilmon disappear and then come back, I know somewhere my family has found a place far from me, but someday I may meet them again. Okay, so maybe that's crazy talk, but we can dream, can't we?

My parents had no other family above them, so Henry's dad Janyuu suggested taking me into the rest of the family, the Wong family. Janyuu knew me very well and valued every bit of me, and his wife, my new mom (but not too new mom), agreed with the adoption. It's quite a spiffy little group to hang around. Janyuu continues to work at Hypnos, alongside Mr. Yamaki. Hypnos' key job as of late is mapping the Digital World, since it had been slowly growing back pixel by pixel over these years. Now I know how Henry feels being around his dad; Janyuu's busy as a bee, and I don't know how much coffee he drinks, but it's enough that we can't see him for whole days.

Oh, did I say "we"? I'm sorry, I meant Henry, Susie and the rest. Kind of strange, but I'm around Janyuu more, because, believe it or not, I'm working at Hypnos now. Janyuu noticed that I was a great artist, and he wanted me to design all this stuff that we could use for the Digital World, you know, transports and all that, like Grani. Is that spelled with two Ns or one?

Henry and Susie are of course the closest of the step-siblings in my life. I learned their Chinese names are "Zenrya Lee" and "Shuichon", so I try to address them that way too. Henry doesn't like his real name; too long, he says. He thought about calling himself "Zen Lee", but "Henry" it was. Henry finds it icky that I'm his step-brother, if not the ONLY brother he has. It's definitely not the same as being the only boy in the house, and that goes for him and me both. Susie doesn't mind me at all. She thinks I'm ready to play with her and bake something for her sweet tooth. Then again, why not? I always do those for her.

The rest of the family, I've grown used to, though the older sisters have mostly left to try their luck in the States, so I keep forgetting their names. Mrs. Wong is a cool mom. She doesn't worry too much about the family, knowing the Digital World and everything. Of course, she's not like my real mom. Sometimes her lack of worrying troubles me. That's what happens when you're born with a mom who just loves to keep you on a leash of sorts.

Guilmon's not with me right now. He can't stay here in the real world, not after the incident with the D-Reaper. The Juggernaut program deevolved him, and his body feels the real world is alien and must always go back to the world he belonged to. Not that Guilmon is harmed by the real world, but it's too bad that he has to disappear just as we're beginning to have a good time. It's like he's a ghost. Good thing is, he's growing stronger and more used to my world, and that means he can stay longer than ever, for about an hour, at this time. My other buddies go through the same thing. Except Henry. Gee, there's an exception to every rule, is there?

Terriermon and Calumon are far luckier; they can thrive in the real world as much as they want to. Janyuu discovered Terriermon had developed a peculiar resistance to the deevolution; it was growing inside of him since the Juggernaut program was installed into him, and so he was Terriermon before all the other digimon could revert to their normal level. Terriermon's about the noisiest person in the real world again. (Except for Janyuu. Can you believe how loudly he snores after typing away on a computer program? Yamaki has to keep yelling at him because Janyuu rests his face on the keyboard, and the programs get so close to overload.)

Calumon's obviously come back because he's the evolution brought to life. Some of that evolution power in him has also resisted the deevolution process. He's running around somewhere, but at night, he comes back.

So that's how it's been. I'm supposed to be twenty, but sometimes I feel like I haven't really grown. I still have Guilmon to talk to, but as it was, he couldn't stay here in the real world. Ever since the D-Reaper was destroyed, things moved much faster than I wanted them to. In fact sometimes, these thoughts are the only things that can slow down, but like any slow thing, they can get interrupted by the fast and the-

"Takato? Takato?"

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"Takato, you're being very quiet. We almost forgot you were one of us," piped up Janyuu with a smile. He lifted up a chopstick to munch down on some dim sun.

"Oh, sorry! I….was having some thoughts, you know. Heh, heh," chuckled Takato, rising his eyes off his plate.

"Some thoughts? Seemed like a lot of thoughts, Takato. You were as still as ice," added in Terriermon, who was on a chair on level to the dinner table thanks to some boxes. The mammal digimon carried a takeout box from a local Chinese bistro, and chopsticks as tall as his head.

"You still miss Guilmon, don't you?" questioned Henry, ever watchful of his old friend.

"Yeah, you know, I do. That, and working on Hypnos. My mind feels like it's on meltdown."

"Now, now, Takato," said Janyuu, "Meltdown is the last word this family needs to hear."

"Yeah!" said Terriermon. "I mean, didn't Henry's dad melt down that meat loaf he said he could make?"

"Ah yes, Terriermon," Mrs. Wong replied, as she held up another plate. "Thankfully, Janyuu swears he will never cook again and just leave the cooking to the expert, yours truly. Right, honey?"

"Uhm…That wasn't in the correct context, Terriermon……But you already know that, don't you?"

"Hey, when table talk is cold, you've got to turn up the heat!" said Terriermon, gobbling one of those chickens roasted in cashew sauce. "So, Takato," he rambled, spitting a few tiny pieces out of his mouth, "How is the Hypnos thing going along? And when will everybody else get to go?"

"Well, we've covered the Western Hemisphere of the Digital World," said Takato, looking up to the ceiling to recover his memories. "So that's one down, three more to go. But Terriermon, I can't speed up the process for our other friends. No one could."

"What? It's been 9 years already, and believe me, I don't want to stay single for long."

"What are you talking about? Exactly who do you want to be with, Terriermon?" queried Henry.

"I'm just saying I want more digimon around where people like you live, Henry. The possibilities could be endless."

"That is very true, Terriermon," spoke Janyuu, who was wiping his mouth clean with a napkin. "But the limits of the digimon have yet to be ascertained. Takato and I are trying our very best to keep the situation up. I've been contacting the rest of the crew around, but you know them. They've got more important things to do than being your matchmaker."

"That's right," said Takato, clearing up the plate with a spoon. (Of course, it was his idea to bring spoons to the Wongs.) "And Yamaki, what about him? Can he keep up with his condition? He's not feeling well…"

"Since last year? No doubt," said Henry. "Sometimes he forgets I'm supposed to be my father's son. Does he still manage Hypnos?"

"Yeah, though he's not in his prime…" Takato nervously scooped the spoon over around the plate, as if in nervousness. "Yamaki refuses to resign, against the wishes of everyone working in Hypnos. Good thing he has Reika with him. Once in a while, Reika has to represent for Yamaki when talking with his superiors, who at least trust her."

"Janyuu, you should speak up to Yamaki about this. Many of your friends at Hypnos have come over to our home, asking for your help in removing Yamaki. It's not like he's a bad person, but if he's suffering, he must go," Mrs. Wong suggested, taking a little time to clean up her glasses.

"No, dear," Janyuu replied. "It wouldn't be right to deny Yamaki his choice. Reika respects his independence, and so should we. He's done many mistakes, but we are here to correct them so he can correct himself. My colleagues haven't quite forgiven Yamaki from his days supervising the Juggernaut. They say he deserved his illness, whatever it is."

"Can't we at least find out what's ticking him?" Takato frowned.

"I'm sorry, Takato, my son, but he believes he has the right treatment, and quite frankly, so does his wife."

"Momentie, Takato…" said Terriermon. "Mr. Yamaki's a tough one, one who'd never say die. Henry should be like that more often. Right, Henry?"

Henry scratched his head uneasily. "Well, Terriermon, I'm more like the person who believes I'm only human."

"Only human? That's not fun, Henry. I'm only digimon, and I don't think I'm not tough."

"You sure don't sound like you're tough", chuckled Mrs. Wong. "Why don't we move on to stuff besides Yamaki…like how Henry is doing with college, hmm?"

"Ah, mom," began Henry, "you know, it's the usual. Biology's lot tougher than it seems. Ah, wait a minute, the final's two days from now! Once I start eating dinner, everything I learn goes out on one ear! Gee…so I better go read right now, else I won't pass the class. Um, thanks for the dinner, mom. Got to study."

"Your welcome, dear", said Mrs. Wong, as Henry disappeared from the dining room table, and then ascended the wooden staircase.

"Hewwo, everybody!" a buoyant voice came from the door.

"Shuichon?" called Takato, whose train of thought over Hynos was broken by his step-sister. He never wanted to call her a step-sister. That phrase sounded like he was supposed to step all over her.

"Hewwo, daddy! Hewwo, mommy! Hewwo Takato!" The 17-year old teenager, now donning long pigtails and a more womanly voice, hugged Takato, who chuckled at his step-parents as they mused themselves at the sight. And then, a daily convention of hers, Shuichon constricted Terriermon. "Hewwo, TERRIERMON!"

Terriermon's face turned as blue as the night sky outside. "Heh-ro, Shooshie," he managed to speak. As she let go, the little digimon had spirally eyes, for he was short of breath. " Oooh… 'Love hurts' is an understatement!"

"Where's Henwy? I want to say 'Hewwo' to him too!"

Janyuu smiled. "Better not greet your big brother tonight, Susie. He's up at his room, hoping to get an A in his final." 

"Please, do have yourself a seat," said Mrs. Wong, bringing a fresh plate where Henry once sat. "I don't suppose you bought something to eat while out shopping?"

"Uh-uhn," concurred Shuichon, as she leapt herself onto the empty seat. "Hewwo, Takato!"

Takato was opening up some fortune cookies, which had convenient message tags like "You will find fortune half full", or "You will find fortune half empty", or "Reggie, will you marry me?" That read, talk with Susie was definitely loads more involving. "Ah, hello, Susie! You missed me?"

"Missed you? I missed you sho vewily much, just like daddy!" she said as she took spoonfuls of everything on her plate.

"Well, that's because daddy and I have been working with several tasks in the big computer room, bringing back Lopmon among our agenda, of course."

"You've shaid that for sho long," Susie pouted impatiently while readying her chopsticks. "When will Lopmon come back?" The fact that Henry had Terriermon around with him further ached her hopes of having her own digimon back.

"Soon enough. Hypnos is kind of running low on manpower, so our progress has kind of slowed. Don't worry about me, I'm moving fast, moving at the speed of might! Whoosh!" Takato zoomed a free hand across the table. Susie always loved these little spectacles.

"Yay, Takato! Takato never steps out of a promise, right?"

"Never for you or anyone else", Takato replied.

"Speaking of manpower," said Janyuu, "Takato, while you were working, Yamaki enlisted a new technical assistant into the Hypnos base. I conducted an interview with the woman, and she is apparently quite knowledgeable about mathematical formulas that could help us reform the Digital World, at least the most basic aspects of it. She will also attend to surveying the real world for any major digital activity, since Reika must look after Yamaki. You should meet the assistant, since she will need to observe your data to sustain the project."

"Hey, who knows, Takato?" jumped up Terriermon, straightening his back after feeling the wrathful joy of Henry's little sister. "Who knows? You could wind up having a nice time with the chick. Hey, why are they called chicks, anyway? They don't even have beaks…" 

"Um, Okay, Mr. Wong, I mean, dad," Takato said, hoping not to make a case out of Terriermon's words. He turned back to his stepsister. "You see, Susie? It's not going to be so hard handling the line between the Digital World and the real world. This new person will be helpful, but you're going to have to wait just some more."

"Oh…Waiting…" Susie frowned, pausing her consistent munches of food.

Should've said that the other way around… "Um, uh, Susie, you know what? I've got half a day off tomorrow, and I've got tickets for the day show of CCW, Crazed Combat Wrestling. Want to go?"

"Shuwe!" Susie laughed, her eyes lit back with amusment.

Terriermon jumped onto Takato's shoulder in excitement. "I want to go too, Takato! I want to be the one who gets to give a chair to a wrestler!"

"I don't know…the last time you did that, you ruined the homicidal, genocidal guy's championship streak! And you threw it at his head, you know!"

"So? I'm short! Can you blame me? More importantly, can I go?"

"You'll get your answer tomorrow."

"Yay!" said Susie. "Terriermon will go!"

Takato sighed deeply as Terriermon yelled out to him, "KNEW IT!"

How often does Susie have to read my mind, the Wong thought over himself. 

To Be Continued….


	2. Into the Mat

A/N: Tajeri Lynn is back at FFN's world-famous Digidome so you amigos can catch second wind of "Takato Wong". And inspired by the Digidestined of Courage, I am going to explain what happened in the previous chapter. Here goes!

Previously, on "Takato Wong"….

Takato Wong…

"You could hang out with a chick."

"I'm short! Can you blame me?"

"Why are they called chicks? They don't even have any beaks…"

"Momentie, Takato."

HEY! All the lines belong to…Terriermon, get off the editing room! You're not cleared to be here, amigo!

"Un, un, uh! I have a contract that entails me the right to use the room. By the way, what does that mean, 'entail?' Is that something to do with animals?"

Sigh…Well, before I talk this over with Terriermon, I'll just say Digimon 03 is from Foxkids and Toei Animation. Move on to the next chapter, amigos…

Takato Wong

Phase B: Into the Mat

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"ShinJUKU, Japan! How in the hell are you doing tonight?!"

Boos resounded the Shinjuku Funplex as a lone boy was in the ring, carrying a microphone on one hand and a brass-laden championship belt on the other. He wore a flowing red coat to match his deliberately ruffled scarlet strands swaying from his head like spikes. The fans at Crazed Combat Wrestling, CCW, did not dig this individual one bit.

Takato and Susie were at the fifth row to the front, laying on red plastic fold-up chairs to witness the spectacle. Terriermon was on Susie's lap, wearing a doll's gown, in fact. Susie had long missed playing with dolls, so she started her little habit with a dressed-up Terriermon by her side. Terriermon denied the idea, but Takato capitalized and told the digimon that since he wasn't going to pay for the tickets, he had to pay up some other way, and so cross-dressing became the bargaining price. Terriermon slanted his eyes in irritance, further realizing they were on the fifth row, and all the rows before them were the ones with the steel chairs to offer the wrestlers.

"Takato, you bought us the cheap seats!" whined Terriermon, his ears sagging down to Susie's dress.

"Hey, you want to go back to Henry, old pal?" Takato spoke, shuffling his beige jacket to remove some popcorn that the fans were aiming at the red head.

"Are you kidding me? Henry would kill me if I went to school with him. He'll be blaming me if he gets an F on Biology. Besides, it's not like we get to go this often at CCW. All the blood and guts those guys put through! Mmm!"

"Oh no, Terriermon. Not blood. Blood is absolutely scare-wy. We're not going to see all that scare-wy stuff, are we, Takato?" Susie turned to her brother.

"No, no, of course not…It's the day show, so it's much less violent. Plus, the seats always come in cheap."

"Boo, Takato! Hear someone make noise for you. BOO!" Terriermon spoke with ears clasped around his mouth, amplifying his guttermouth voice.

"You don't look so happy, Tewwiermon," smiled Susie as she held a handful of salted popcorn. "I've bought popcorn for you. Want some?"

"Gee, thanks, Susie. For someone who put me in a dress, you sure know how to win me over," the dog-bunny digimon replied as the kernels fell upon a napkin atop Susie's lap. Terrermon grabbed a kernel and lobbed it so his mouth can catch it.

The audiences looked up at the spectacle, which still wasn't so grandiose.

"Now that you have FINALLY given me the attention that my intellect deserves," the lithe, 5 foot, 130-pound wrestler spoke up with his broken-record, boyish voice, "I've got some news that'll make you quiet just a little mite. You see, I, Katch Kindred, the Larcenist of Lockdowns, and my tag team partner, Jarvis Thatch, had just received word from the office that we were mandated to defend the CCW tag titles here today…But guess what, losers? Our opponents, the so-called Dauntless Duo, just got pulled over for speeding an hour ago! Hah hah hah! That means that officially, the Duo are unable to compete. Referee, be a good official and declare us the winners!"

Amidst the deafening boos and flying soda cups, a little heat was burning up..

  
"WHAT?!" said Terriermon, who turned to Takato. "You bought us REAL cheap seats, Takato! We got screwed out of the main event! If that's not peachy enough, there's no blood, there's no steel chairs, and I'm in a dress! You cost me two hours I can never get back!"

"Terriermon, I couldn't know that we'd get ripped off like this. It pi-" he saw Susie, and corrected himself. "It tees me off too that this has happened. Don't think you're alone," he spoke unhappily.

"You really know how to make our lives more difficult, Takato. Remember the time you turned Guilmon into that Gidra-whatchamacallit? Believe me, I almost got a heart attack!….Do digimon have heart attacks? Do they have hearts?"

Takato's eyes narrowed at the thought. That old feeling was building in him. "Don't go ballistic on me, Terriermon. We don't want to upset Susie while she's enjoying herself. And DON'T remind me about that."

"Enjoying herself, huh? Susie!" called Terriermon urgently to the tongue-tied teenager. "Are you having a good time in this show?"

"Well, um, so far, things were going nicely, but-"

"Did you hear that, Takato? She agrees with me. She just said 'but'! To me!"

"I know you are, so what am I?" commented a goaded Takato as he fished some popcorn from Susie's bucket to gulp down his bored gullet, not making eye contact at all with Terriermon, and deliberately as well. If there was one thing the digimon didn't like, it was being talked at without being looked at.

"OOH! Brawl time!" a whacked-out Terriermon jumped at Takato, ears and all aimed at the young man's face.

"Hey!" Takato yelled as he and the digimon rolled over their seats, trying to force each other flat onto the snack-ridden floor. The Wong's arm was lengthy, but Terriermon's ears were thicker and the strength swerved over them was astonishing. Teaching each other a lesson was a match in itself.

"Here's my 20 dollars!" promised Terriermon.

"Hey, it was MY 20 dollars, in case you haven't noticed!"

"Takato! Tewwiermon! Stop fighting! Why do you have to fight over everything?" Susie chided helplessly, although she got a little mad as well. She grabbed Terriermon and tried to pull him off so he'd be his cute little self. But Susie yelped as muscular hands grabbed her back among a roaring semi-circle of wrestling fans, who were just loving this.

The red head atop the ring looked at the spectacle down below, and quickly he screwed the sphere on the microphone, creating a crowd-displeasing shriek. The crowd had their attention back on him, most of them anyway, but Takato and Terriermon's struggle was eye candy for a show that was technically over.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" yelled Katch, noticing bouncers had stormed over the guardrail to restrain the two. "Hold it, bouncies, hold it! Let 'em go for the moment!" He quickly began waving a hand to all four sides of the squared circle, shouting "Let them go! Let them go!" With that, the whole ring was resounding with the chants of "Let them go! Let them go! Let them go!"

Then, he saw the big burly owner of CCW telling the bouncers to throw away the duo, who were now trying to push the bouncers down. The crowd reaction roared so loudly that Susie held her ears.

"Wait a minute! Is that Mr. Saner that I see? The big shot CCW guy? Hey, Saner, I'm talking to you! I said let them go!"

Saner turned his sights away from the ensnared duo and watched the red head, mouthing to himself, "The hell you doing, Katch?" The CCW owner told the bouncers to keep Takato and Terriermon out of trouble until the boys in blue can steer their way into the dome.

"Hey, you, little brunette and your girly doll! Eyes groundside here, you two!" shouted Katch in that annoying boyish voice, whipping his belt across the ring apron listlessly, as he began to quiet down. "Since me and Jarvis are the tag team champions, and since NO ONE but you wants to show off what they really can do, I'm making you a preposition. Come over here to the ring."

"OOOHHHH!" the crowd chanted, before chuckling a few guffaws here and there.

"Huh?" Takato said as he watched Katch, irritated that this arrogant, overbearing shorty was forcing him into the limelight. Gogglehead Boy had never put himself through guys of Mr. Kindred's caliber, if one can call this man's talent "caliber". Takato had only watched the fights from a safe distance, so it had been these past 10 years. He had never done martial arts, either, despite Janyuu and Henry's expertise in tapping their chi within. As for Terriermon, what could the little guy do against Kindred, or for that matter, Mr. Thatch, who still hadn't shown up? The dog-bunny was choked by his own ears through manipulation by a bouncer, who was making him pass out. 10 years of viewing wrestling wasn't going to help them through this…Right?

"Takato, what does that loser want?" asked an annoyed Susie, a welcome sight emerging above the mire of raucous spectators and muscular bouncers.

"He wants me to fight him," Takato whispered to her, before reverting to an evil-eye stare at Katch, "just so that he can send me out to dry and keep me from getting arrested."

"Not 'me', brunette. The correct answer is 'we'. I know who the girly doll is..A digimon, and never in my life have I ever locked up against one, especially a digimon who had what it took to save this stinking city." Boos were resurrected in the dome.

"This city doesn't stink!" Takato replied, as the bouncers' grip around his chest grew even weaker. The fans cheered on the so-called hometown hero. It wasn't long before Terriermon himself was released, and he jumped on the guardrail, going "Rrr!" towards Katch.

"So, you are going to compete, you and your girly mon?"

"That's Terriermon! And I'm not girly!" Terriermon removed the dress off himself, ready to play the game, and folded the dress into a neat square before throwing the dress over to Susie, who jumped and caught it with her two hands. "I'm sorry," he said to her softly.

"No problem! I wouldn't want you to mess your little dress!" she smiled.

"So we ARE doing this? Thatch, come on and let's get this over with!" Katch called his partner, and he threw away his belt and the microphone.

With wills united against the tag teamers' cause, Takato and Terriermon jumped over the guardrail as the CCW fans began patting their backs for good luck. They looked at one another if they really wanted to do this, but neither man nor mon was willing to back out of an offer if the other was going to take it. They smiled tauntingly at each other, wishing good luck as the inadvertent duo stumbled about the slippery floor. That was when both challengers were grabbed by the back of their necks and thrown smack dab into the ring apron. At once, the bell rang, and that noise was perfect for the duo's current feelings at the time. Whoever said wrestling was fake was definitely a target on Terriermon's list; nobody lies to Terriermon!

Takato slumped on his back, turning and seeing a bespectacled cruiserweight with blue hair curved down to his neck, as well as a shadow-black trench coat. Thatch grabbed Terriermon and threw him at the center of the squared circle.

"Come on, Takato! Get back up!" Susie shouted, waving Terriermon's flower-patterned dress like a signal of life.

Takato groaned, and struggled to get himself up, aching as he got a bruise on his left leg. "Urr…"

Meanwhile, Katch raised up the weakened Terriermon by the minute hooves of his feet. Suspended upside down, Terriermon was on dream street, wondering why all of a sudden some topsy turvy blue head was running toward him. Jarvis grabbed the digimon's head while Katch still held on to his legs, and both spun circularly as the double-team neckbreaker sent a crashing noise erupting from the surface of the ring. Susie screamed while the other fans shouted "OH!" loudly in reply. Terriermon's eyes spiraled as the digimon felt a foot pressed down for the three count, or was that ten? It didn't matter, he could use the break…

Straightening his squared glasses, Jarvis was laughing at the cheap pinfall attempt before his eyes caught a yelling Takato flying over Terriermon and whacking the co-champ's belly with a wicked steel chair. Jarvis tottered away from Terriermon so the referee shouted that only a two-count was made.

A stunned Katch Kindred went behind the Wong and grabbed Takato by his bruised left leg. Takato yelped at the pain and retaliated by launching his right leg out of the floor, and while his back hit the floor jarringly, the right foot caught Katch by his jaw. Kindred spat saliva, shut his eyes and fell down like a felled redwood tree. Takato hooked his leg, and got a one-count. However, Katch was still down. Another pinfall was what Takato did next, and still Katch raised up his shoulders.

Takato ran up to Terriermon, tapping at his cheek. "Terriermon, wake up! We've got to get out of here."

"What are you talking about, Henry? I'm already out of it..Oohhh…", Terriermon spoke, talking face away from Takato.

"Argh! I should've gotten arrested instead!" Takato grabbed Terriermon over his shoulder for convenience, and as he turned to the outside he saw both Katch and Jarvis leap with a double clothesline that hooked his neck and sent both him and Terriermon falling off onto the cruel mat. Takato got grabbed by Katch, who was still rubbing his kicked jaw, and Jarvis pounded on him with fast jabs. Takato grunted as his oxygen was forcibly pummeled out of his gut, and he tried to get off of Katch, but Katch felt more careful with his grip than were Saner's bouncers.

Terriermon, got up and saw Takato's pain. "Heh, heh. I guess they're beating him up for me…Loser!" Then, his smile sank into a crevice of a frown. "Hey! On second thought, if he loses, I lose too! Not going to let a bunch of nobodies scratch at my pride. Not gonna happen." He grabbed a steel chair, and tried to pull it, and sweat was beading at his head as he lifted the comparably massive weight. "Umm! There's a reason why I only throw these things! Wait, I got it! Hee-yah!" he kicked a hoove under the rim as to give a slight lift of the chair, and before it fell down, Terriermon spun his ears and catapulted the chair right onto Jarvis' head.

Jarvis turned around Takato so as to proudly pin him at the center of the ring, and was caught surprised as an airborne chair struck Takato's face, and clanged down a garbled mess.

"Terrier…mon, you idjit!" groaned Takato weakly, as Jarvis dropped him in surprise of the screw job.

"Aw nuts!" said Terriermon. "Why do they always turn around at the wrong time?"

"AH!" Susie said, face gone white.

"OH!" said the CCW fans, who began rolling their fists to the air, chanting, "Holy s***! Holy s***! You F***ed up! You F***ed up!

"You again?" Jarvis said as he grabbed the broken chair and attempted to flatten Terriermon as if he was the fly and the chair was the fly-swatter. Terriermon's tiny form slid out of the way, and then leaning before Jarvis, his ears contracted to the mat. He then springboarded himself and nailed a head-butt to the chair through Jarvis' face, just as the co-champ rose up the chair to hammer Long-Ears down for good.

Jarvis collapsed, stunned again as his glasses tinkered over the ring. Terriermon, holding his wayward noggin as best as he could, was careening about to make the pin, but he saw a semi-conscious Takato held upside down by Katch Kindred, who was planning to drive the youth's head down to the floor. Takato was struggling to shake himself free from Kindred's grip, so the lag time was available. Not wanting to risk his partner's injury from Kindred's piledriver maneuver, Terriermon leapt in cross-body formation over Takato's form, and the new addition to the burden was enough for Katch to go flat on his back. Takato growled triumphantly and hooked the foe's legs over his own shoulders, and then, he saw a rectangular shadow overlapping his form. Takato and Terriermon leapt to the sides as a giant ladder smashed over Katch's chest, the steel being murder to his belly. The red head held his chest achingly, writhing his legs hopelessly to get off. Jarvis sneered and banged a fist on the ring, because now he missed the intended spot, and proceeded to grab another ladder. While Jarvis was busy, Terriermon opened the broken chair and set it at the center of the ring. Stopping by the far end, Terriermon jumped over the dented seat of the chair, got on the supple steel ropes and, smiling at a bewildered Jarvis, somersault-plunged himself out of the ring and into the man! Both fighters on the outside couldn't stand up after the stunt.

Susie leapt over the guardrail with a bottle of water for Takato.

"Susie, get out of the ring! You could get hurt!" said Takato in panic, leaning his face out through the ropes.

"You're having a great show!" Susie perked a smile, which was always more infectious from the presence of those puffy cheeks.. "Here, some water to cool you off, Takato," she offered the bottle, which Takato took and nodded in gratitude.  "And watch out for that mean Katch. He's setting up a ladder on the corna."

"Where?" he turned around, and saw Katch aim a gyrating hurricane kick at his chin. Susie quickly leapt back behind the ring so as to watch the struggle safely.

"That your brother, sis?" a fan spoke next to her. "He's crazy as hell!"

"He's not vewy crazy. He's super crazy! Hee hee!" She clapped her hands ecstatically.

"Kids…" the fan mumbled to himself.

Still clutching the bottle of water like it was a godsend, Takato was driven to the turnbuckles by Katch, who begin whipping Takato's T-shirt laden belly with fierce karate chops. Takato yelled as the whips made his skin redden. He couldn't see his chest, but he sure could feel what was going on.

Laughing, Katch whipped Takato's arm to send the unwitting challenger to the corner where the ladder had been arranged. At the middle of the struggle, Takato unscrewed the cap of the water bottle with his teeth and flung the water at Katch! Katch sputtered the drips of water and then, Takato, murmuring "Heaven help me", grabbed one elbow and spun, throwing his foe's figure onto the ladder!

Katch hit the ladder and his eyes spun black, and as the competitor rolled away from the ladder, Takato, knowing full well what it took to stop Katch, madly sprung up to a top turnbuckle. Stumbling on the top and holding the ropes with his hands, he stood up, shutting his eyes at the insanity he was about to do, and then soared, flexing his arms and legs like an angel swimming over the air. The velocity of the splash crushed Katch, who squeaked a small breath, and Takato, laid down over Katch, sighing in relief as the referee got down the 1, 2, 3.

The fans echoed and deafened as they circled their arms again, shouting "CCW! CCW!" Popcorn flew over the squared circle like confetti, and soda cans splashed tart contents over the fallen opponents. Ironically, the praised victors were never professionals in the very company this show had promoted.

"YAY!" Susie said as she jumped and squeezed Takato's bruised face in her arms. She felt Takato laughing wickedly, for never did he think he would actually beat Katch and Jarvis in their own game. Susie saw the weary, chuckling Terriermon drag his form upon the ring apron, and she let go of a stumbling Takato so she could joyfully raise up Terriermon in victory. Proud that he was, the dog-bunny digimon, fur ruffled and a slight cut on his little head, formed "V" symbols with his fingers. 

Straining harshly with eyes tightened, Takato held his chest and hugged his left leg as the referee paced over to him, dropping the two title belts now honoring him and Terriermon. Takato watched the instruments of glory for a few seconds or too. But having taken this fight only to keep himself from having a record, he resolutely slammed his palm and shoved the belts away from the ring, where they cluttered audibly. He rose his head, stood up and walked over to shake the palms of his unconscious foes. "You did a good job, but I think I'll stick with watching you fight," he commented to them as he waved a hand to beckon Susie and Terriermon to follow.

The bruised Wong chuckled and held his friends, or family, they were both the same. "Come on, Susie, Terriermon. Back to the hard stuff now. I'm getting late for work."

To Be Continued….

A/N: I might edit this. Feedback, perhaps?

OOC, maybe? Well, this story is unarguably based more on the human cast than the digimon cast, and fleshing them out in a future setting has lots of interesting ideas. I also wanted to put in an action sequence so that you could understand the stuff the characters will put up with in the future chapters.

            By the by, Susie's words are similar to the decade before this story. She doesn't sound the same, exactly, but she loves keeping certain words just to play around with friends and family. She's not going to remain 7, and we all know that.

Until then, keep reading, amigos!


	3. New Blood Rising

A/N: Tajeri Lynn, Extremo Luchadore welcomes you back to the gates of "Takato Wong", the multi-part series of Takato's life in the far future. And do mark anything on your reviews if something's needed, or not so. Tajeri wants to listen to the fans and he will reply to them all.

Yep, I know Susie still sounds like a 7-year old. But some things won't change, or will they?

Muchos gracias to Henry Fan for pointing out that error about the "Zenrya" being "Zenrya". 

Feedback on such little errors is always welcome as well.

Onward now to the new chapter.

"Takato Wong"

Phase C: New Blood Rising

__

(What do you say?)

Fear I see with a look in your eyes

Makes you believe I'm one of a kind

(What do you say?)

Fear I leave in the back of your mind

Makes you believe I'm...

(One of a Kind!)

-Breaking Point, "One of a Kind"

"Hey, wait up, you kids!"

"What now? Takato queried as he looked up from behind Shuichon and Terriermon. The man approaching him from the exit hallway was none other than Mr. Saner, the owner of CCW.

"Hey, you lookin' for a job?" asked Saner, holding up a notepad and pen. "Cause if you are, I've got here the perfect proposition. You've got 'talent' smeared over you, so why not put it where it counts? In your favorite arena!" 

"Gee, that's great and everything, but I already have a job. Believe me, I don't get skewered in barb wire when it comes to making money." 

"The hell with barb wire and crap! Who said I was gonna put you in spot fests? Why don't you just leave your number in case the suckers kick you out? My roster always gets handy-pandy schedules!" 

"Hey, my dad's no sucker!" exclaimed Susie in consternation. "He's a great man. Daddy would never ever kick out old Takato! Never!" 

Far off on the hallway, Katch Kindred and Jarvis Thatch, both carrying bandages around their noodles, were taking in the expected entertainment of the conversation. The ex-tag team champions watched on curiously, but not contemptuously, at the victors of the rough-and-tumble bout just minutes ago. 

"Takato...(Better yet, I'll call you Taka). Taka, you should know that we all have roads to pursue, but the pursuit must be done on your own. No family, no friends, nobody to tell you what you should do. So don't take into credit whatever your little sister says and listen to youself." 

"Hey, I'm not that little, you asinine ignoramus!" shouted Susie, her voice sounding like a tomboy who got bullied by all the big boys. "If you want to fight with me, you're going to regret the day you left your mommy.. That's right, you big stuck-up. I'm not so little when people start poking on my side or Takato's side. In fact, I think my hands are yearning for a workout! So you don't offer anything, command anything or SLUR anything unless we tell you to. Got it?!" She grabbed Saner's striped tie, forcing the CCW owner to bow down before Susie's mad face. 

"Okay, I got it. I got it!" Saner grumbled, somewhat choking from the constriction with the tie. 

"Whoo-hoo! Taught him like a real girl, Susie!" congratulated Terriermon, who, against Takato's intentions, was dragging the tag-team title belts behind him.

Susie let go of the tie, pushing Saner a good three feet afar, and patted Takato's shoulder. Takato chuckled nervously. "Real girl, Susie. Real girl." Susie smiled and walked off. "I'll be at the parking lot, Takato!" she half-spoke, half-sung, a disturbingly jubilant kid again. "Don't be out long!" 

"You can count on met, Shuichon!" Takato called back. He looked up at Saner, who was gagging with hoarse, broken gasps. "Sorry, Mr. Saner, but they're all cool, my friends and family. It's not like they keep me stuck in a box.." 

"Huff....Puff....Err....I guess I read your sister wrong, huh?" Saner conceded.

"Don't be too bashful", Takato smiled. "You were reading all of us wrong. See ya, wouldn't like to be ya," Takato waved farewell. He placed over the shoulder the limping Terriermon and their tag titles before departing the arena entirely. Saner was left wondering to himself where he had gone wrong. 

"Whoa," spoke Jarvis to Katch. "Those guys ARE talented. It's not everyday you get to see Saner kneeling down to anyone." 

"You kidding?" replied Katch Kindred, who was nursing a bruise on his nose. "I don't think Saner knelt down when he was a baby!" 

"So...it seems 'Taka' has got a job elsewhere, just like we do. Double duty." Jarvis watched the numbers on his watch. "Oh, gosh...It's 9:04pm! We've got our OWN work to do, else we get double trouble!" 

"Yamaki's going to kill us!" outburst Katch Kindred. "Unless, of course, Reika has to fill in for him again." 

"Can't be too sure, but you know Yamaki. Likes to attend as much nights as possible. Reika has working supervision, you know." 

"I already know that. What, you just found out today?" 

"No," Jarvis spoke. "I was just checking to see if Taka bust your brain cells. Apparently, he didn't."

"That's fortunately, you lummox! Use your English wisely!"

****************************************************************************** 

Takato was at the helm of his electric-generated vehicle, a few feet too compact for a family's satisfaction, but just enough to suit him and Janyuu, who was carefully reading a newspaper while sipping fruit juice off a steely, black-lidded canteen. Takato eyed his father and took a free hand to adjust his yellow goggles, now wound about his neck like a collar. No more "gogglehead" phrases from Ruki appeared ever again; now, "goggleneck" phrases were all the craze.

"Hmm…" muttered Janyuu, who removed his eyes off the paper before heaving a sigh of anxiety. The silence was perfect anti-insomnia, so he was willing to break it. "Takato, you didn't run into any of the Crazers during your trip, did you?"

"No, dad," Takato replied, eyes kept on the road. "How are the police handling them?"

"Good effort, as you would expect, but there's just too many of the gang. It's just sad, isn't it? Digimon were meant to be trustful and understanding companions, and yet some youths see them as the metaphors for their anger, their aggressions and hatred. They just don't understand that a digimon's purpose isn't destruction, it's love and courage."

"Hey, Janyuu, remember that old Chinese philosophy? There's good and bad lurking in everything. It's just that some are more good than bad, and as is with the Crazers, vice versa."

"Yang and Ying…Hmmm….I wish only the Ying remained."

"But how can there be love and courage if only the Ying remained?" added Takato. "Don't you realize it's always the bad that helps us identify the good things in life? It's like the phoenix of old. The phoenix is a beautiful radiant bird, and yet is born out of dark, ugly ashes and raging fire. I guess there's a reason why the Crazers are around. At least they remind us that we're still very human, and very vulnerable, and very alive."

Janyuu grinned as he took another gulp of fruit juice. "Very observant, Takato. Now I wish you could never meet those Crazers, else you might fight them."

"Don't be ridiculous, Janyuu. How much trouble could I get from people dressing up like it's Halloween? They've so far done some shoplifitng and riots in local stores."

"It's not that ridiculous as you think." Janyuu raised the newspaper, which bore a photo of a person on a stretcher. "The 'Daily Sun' says here a group of Crazers barged into a marketplace and set off fireworks from the corners, injuring several. The Crazers claimed they were descendants of the Dramon clans, and they couldn't help their love of explosions. Ridiculous, the actions may be, but harmless it is certainly not."

"Gee, that's just sick," said Takato. "I'll be careful, dad. You know me. Running away is the best decision to make. Hey wait, that didn't come out right. Oh, yeah. I actually fought off Jarvis and Katch. Hope that's the last time I have to fight. Geez, now I feel like a hippy-crite. But, um, ohp, there's no time to go further on the subject." The car zipped into the parking lot of the Hypnos Complex. "We've got work to do now. I just hope the Crazers don't trash my car."

"Takato, that is my car, just to remind you. You know what happens if you break it."

"Yeah, you're gonna buy that 300-grand car, or something like that."

"I'm warning you, Takato. Don't tempt me to wile away the Wong income."

******************************************************************************

Hypnos' central corridor remained as it had been for a full decade. The purple steel walls enclosed a monstrous tangle of wires. Like the roots of a tree, the wires lead up to a dome bearing a digital map of the Shinjuku district and all related vicinity. Yamaki, standing tall as he always intended, flicked his thumb and index finger like he was playing with his favorite lighter. Reika, Riley to the Hynos correspondents, had denied Yamaki use of the lighter because of his soured mentality. She stood next to him, however, nestling her arms around his neck with assured affection. Yamaki, sunglasses and all, would take an occasional glance at his wife, but the intention to bring the Digital World back to full form remained the key objective coursing through his mind.

"Mr. Yamaki, how are you doing?" Janyuu greeted as he and Takato came walking in white uniforms.

"You ask too many questions about me, Janyuu. You treat me like I'm the center of the world, and I'm not," Yamaki replied in his infamously stoic tone. "I think it's time I start asking you things. How is your situation looking up?"

"Fine enough. Hypnos has recovered roughly 80% of the Digital World's structure. Mapping the place is still a lot of work. Our current surveillance can't catch up to the ever-changing behavior of the Digital World."

"Continue with the recovery, then. The sooner these Digimon get to show up around our world, perhaps the better."

"So you've heard about the Crazers, then?" asked Takato, who was carefully flipping through the required programming disks on a spherical drawer.

"I resent the presence of these Crazers. They think they're digimon and try their hardest to deny their rightful identity. Can they not realize there can be no one in-between digimon and human? I guess it's my fault that these people misunderstand themselves. If not for my reckless abandon, you wouldn't have gone into the Digital World and bring that blasted D-Reaper with you. Now that the Digimon are entrapped in their world, some of the people in Shinjuku find life too simple. That's why they became these freaks. We must rectify this old problem or else, anarchy will continue to festoon this city, and certainly in a terrible way."

"Um, right, Yamaki, as you always are, I mean, for the past 10 years," began Janyuu with a comforting smile to the cool face of his superior. "Yamaki, you said you hired a new assistant into the company. I think Takato should be introduced to her. She is going to help him rebuild the Digital World and reduce the presence of the Crazers."

"No can do, but I'm not afraid. The assistant's work schedule is effective starting at midnight, so she's taking some more breathers. I suppose Takato would like to know the employee beforehand?"

"Nah, firsthand is better," Takato replied while tapping the keyboard and watching a flickering mega-monitor. "I'd rather get the suspense going over this new assistant. It'll make me want to get to know her more."

Yamaki smiled, for once in his life. "Sounds just like me, Takato. That's why I got stuck to Reika in the first place."

"Don't dramatize," replied Reika. "You got stuck to me cause you went to the wrong locker room. Hm hm!" she silenced her own giggles.

"Ahm, ur, Reika will have to attend you in the programming for now, and…you're not supposed to be here!" Yamaki cocked an eye and glowered a deep one.

"Huh? What did I do?" Takato pointed to himself.

"Not you. Us," appeared the red-head and the blue-head tag team duo, not having to bother change their ruffled denims and long silvery jackets.

"Katch? Jarvis?" Takato bulged his eyes out. He turned to Yamaki. "You didn't tell me you hired them too!"

"They're not hired, Takato," sighed Yamaki, holding his dour head in extreme disbelief, as if plans were going to get changed. "These beings, they… came here to this world, on their own…"

"You mean they're digimon? Highly advanced, I might say. And highly brutal, too."

"Now YOU'RE reading us wrong," pointed out Katch. "We're not exactly digimon, more like projections out of the digimons' thoughts and feelings."

"What are you saying?" a baffled Takato scratched his brown hair.

"Easy on the questions, for now. I know how much you want the answers, so I might as well tell the story," said a rather calm, non-aggressive Jarvis, who was straightening his tiny square specs. "Unless, Yamaki here doesn't give us the old get go."

"Just do it, you two," grumbled Yamaki. "It's not like you blew any major cover."

"Okay, where do I start…Where do I start?…Oh yeah, something about the digimon thinking about us? You know, Takato, ever heard about a philosopher named Berkeley? Berkeley once said that if it can be thought, it must exist, the basis for his works on idealism. Well, that's kind of what happened with the digimon, in a sort of loose translation."

"That's exactly affirmative, Jarvis," Katch replied, this time stepping up to the verbal helm. "After the D-Reaper was destroyed, the hierarchy of the Digital World needed a face-lift. With the Devas destroyed, those digimon that remained were yearning for surrogate masters, the perfect beings to look up to while the gap between digital and human widened in place. Thus, we were born, creations of the digimon we protect. Don't mind us too much of the wrestling. It's how we get the money to bring earthly stuff into our native plane."

"Come to think of it," added Takato, eyeing both men like an artist observing another's work, "you do look kind of familiar, but exactly who?"

"You got it," said Jarvis, who clicked his tongue and pointed a finger as congratulatory gestures. "The digimon came to the agreement that we be molded out of beings symbolic of intelligence and thoughtfulness. Turns out their inspiration came from a long-running show called 'Digimon Adventure'."

"So," said Takato in uneasy surprise, "then you must be based on Jyou Kido, and Katch is based on Koushiro Izumi!"

"Prodigious boy, isn't he?" Katch asked Jarvis, who nodded for a few moments.

"Hey!" said Takato. "Why didn't they choose the rest of the gang as part of the surrogates?"

Jarvis chuckled. "The majority of the digimon weren't too happy of the other models; too determined and too uninhibited, they said. The digimon were rather happy with daddy figures than true blue leader figures. Guess they think we should be gullible around them. As much as they like seeing us as upper figures, they'd occasionally be playing tricks on us, and have fun with that as well."

"By the by…" Takato said. "Uninhibited…and you're not? What's up with that?"

"Something about us being portrayed in fewer lemons…" explained Jarvis. "They're always chuckling because I can't figure out the problem with sour fruits…"

"Believe me, you still can't."

"Story time is over," spoke up Yamaki. "Takato, now that you know who these fellow persons are, I suggest you proceed with the recovery setup. Reika's at the surveillance crane, awaiting your responses with the programming."

"Right, you got it. Catch up to you, Katch and Jarvis." Takato buttoned up his coat and departed to the primal mainframe.

"As for YOU two," Yamaki pointed an irksome finger at the digital beings, "you don't arrive to the base up front, expecting everyone in here to be allowed to know you. We still run a very secret operation, and if this blows, everyone's going to think a government is 100% conspiracy!"

"Sure, Yamaki. We know how to keep everything in wraps. We CAN travel from the real world to the digital one, so escape's no problem."

"Fine enough, Katch. I suppose you're informing me of your departure?" Yamaki pulled off his sunglasses, revealing his sky-bluish optics.

"Better be going. Our kids await us," Jarvis spoke, as he and Katch began dissolving into fuzzy figures, their form ever shifting into minute pixels. The pixels slowly faded randomly, their slight flashes disappearing into thin air. Within seconds, both beings had returned back to the lushness of the Digital World. 

"I guess that handles that," Yamaki murmured, still impulsively flicking his thumb over nothing. "Reika, when can I get my heater back?"

"Soon as a mental operation is done," said Reika, donning her VR helmet atop the crane. "The doctors will try to uncover your situation through brain surgery, honey, and-"

"NO!"

"Yamaki, you know this is the only way! None of the medicines ever work."

"I don't want ANYONE to risk messing up with my mind! That is the last thing I'll ever allow!"

"I'm sorry, Yamaki. I already paid in advance for the operation. The doctors expect you to arrive, and if that still doesn't convince you, I may want to push you into it."

"Reika, please," Yamaki grumbled feebly, trying hard not to sound pleading. "I may not be the same ever again. What if a Crazer comes out and attacks me? What if the doctor turns the knife the wrong way? What if-"

"Yamaki, you're going too hard on yourself again," Janyuu spoke, placing a thick, 50-something's hand over the superior's shoulder. "I'm not one to describe people in negative terms, but I'm sure you're paranoid. I do respect your own decision, but the line crosses when it comes to your staying alive." He exhibited a concerned frown.

"Urr…Perhaps you're right," Yamaki gently, but not so gently, removed Janyuu's arm with his own. "Perhaps I do need that surgery. I'm not stable enough to decide for my own anymore…but Reika, you're going to have to shove me into it, cause I'll be kicking and screeching like the neighbor's cat."

"Hey," commented Reika, "you can't go wrong with me. You're talking to the yellow-belt mistress of Kempo!"

"You're not black-belt, yet?" Takato asked from afar.

"I just started it. Yamaki's not one for martial arts, though."

"Please just continue, everyone," Yamaki spoke. "If you want to respect me, stop referring so much to me."

To Be Continued…


	4. Taught and Tight

A/N: As FFN goes on a heat wave, Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore is helping you guys cool off with another hot chapter! But first, he shall speak of a few replies from the fellow reviewers of the last chapter….

Make no doubt about it; Susie is 17 and she's lisping. But hopefully, that last chapter does provide a little new light on Susie's persona. Hey, who says kids should stay kids anyway?

Heyo, Digidestined of Courage! I really love "The Ancient Prophecy" from JCA. You've easily got those characters down pat. Can't wait to see you finish it, amigo!

Digimon is property of Toei Animation and Saban Entertainment. That said, Tajeri Lynn shall back off as the show begins!

Phase D: Taught and Tight

Well, it's time that I start ending the dilly-dallying from this half hour break, though I must add that it doesn't feel like half an hour, but way shorter. That's kind of funny, don't you think? Back at Shinjuku Elementary, a half-hour break would be a godsend next to freshly made luncheons at the cafeteria. But now, half-hour makes me wonder how much growing up has truly reversed my old ways of thinking. Gee, my little blue watch reads 11:52pm…Only eight more minutes before I drive back to Hypnos and meet this new employee. Hope she's a hottie. Oops, better not think that way in front of Rika Nonaka. Even if we're great friends, she never stops trying to read my mind.

Uh, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? Sorry. I'm sitting on this neat little seat at Plucky Boy's, a little 24/7 burger joint just blocks away from Hypnos. With most of Shinjuku asleep, the traffic is safe as I drive, and best of all, Rika works at Plucky Boy's, she's a cashier and then some, so she always knows I'm ordering the same order of those exotic peanut-butter sandwiches. I feel so sticky when it comes to her. Uh, oh…maybe that sticky feeling's coming from that peanut-butter.

Rika's life so far has been said to be my life's counterpart, though I hesitate to ever mention the "c" word. The loss of Renamon devastated her and she began losing confidence in being the "Digimon Queen", even through her teenage years. But what got her worse was her mother Makino's abrupt….passing. Makino was at a fashion show when the 9.0  Trembler struck, and the show was tragically close to the epicenter….So now Rika lives with only her beloved grandma, Hata Seito, who does her best to keep Rika the happiest girl in the household, and I know Hata has often succeeded.

Rika says she hates her job and is glad that she only has to work during the weekends. She tells me that her co-workers would squirt the ketchup and mustard at her when she's leaving, and she gets pissed. She swears one day she's going to be on the Wanted List because of them, not that she actually would be, she's too nice to actually be that. I'm kind of sorry for her, but at the same time, I'm kind of jealous of her. She's having the harder time and I'm going relatively easier and getting more than she'd ever dream. No, wait. Scratch that 'ever' thing. I'm sounding like she doesn't have a chance, and that's not what I intend to think. Rika's being the tough girl that she is, and I'm so proud that she's still tough. I kind of cower in the face of unfriendly, teasing people, and…that's what happens when you've been baking in the friendliest neighborhood of West Shinjuku. Now, "friendliest" isn't around anymore. But Rika still is…

"Takato?" Rika spoke, her lilac eyes watching her childhood buddy.

Takato turned from his train of thought. "Yes, Rika? Oh, good sandwiches, as always."

"And to think they're the simplest things on the menu," mused Rika, hands laid on the cashier. She was a more fuller woman, her figure resembling that of her mother's. However, her once onion-headed batch of orange hair was now arranged so many locks shot above like spikes on a pineapple! (Not a good hairstyle? Write on your review what the style should look like!) The style was quite pretty…for a rebel… "How's things looking with Janyuu and the digimon?"

"Most of it's top secret, but since you're always one for keeping secrets, I'll let you in on something. The Digital World? It'll only take another month for us to recover it."

"Oh, wow, a month? That long? It's been ten years, Takato, and I'm already feeling like a crabby old woman who's about to die! Only Grandma's around to remind me I'm not."

"Yeah, I know it feels forever. And I know how close you and Renamon were."

Rika narrowed her eyes and showed her cold lips. "Don't even start mentioning the girl-on-girl jokes you keep making!"

"I didn't say that!"

"Well, you might've been!"

"Heh, heh, heh…" Takato chuckled nervously. "Um, Rika, um….I think it's time for me to go, um…Loved the dinner…See ya…."

"Now wait, Takato," Rika half-sang the sentence. "You're always asking for the doggie bag, and don't say you don't need it because you didn't finish two of the five sandwiches. Such is you to escape me when I'm getting the better mouth."

Takato sighed, a puff of air expelling out of his mouth. "Alright, Rika, you win. Can I have the doggie bag?"

"Please," Rika spoke back.

"Pretty please?" Takato said, bowing his knees dramatically over the ruffled Plucky Boy's trademark mat, clutching his hands before the orange-haired cashier.

"Okay, Takato, geez, now you're acting like a Romeo talking to a Juliet," Rika chided, silently pulling a bag next to her. "Though if I were Juliet, I wouldn't follow Romeo's example."

"Hey, you'd never know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Uh nothing," Takato smiled as the bag was given to him. He wrapped the sandwiches in napkins and threw them into the bag. "See ya?"

"Yes, now I could say 'see ya'. And one more thing, Takato."

"What is it, 'Digimon Queen'?" Takato eyed her closely.

"Don't kneel on the trademark mat. A lot of sick people tend to vomit there," Rika spoke in her typically vacuous manner, before dropping the act and making a few chuckles.

"Ah, yuck!" Takato looked at the legs of his khakis, soaking wet from the mopping done on the mat. 

******************************************************************************

"Takato, you're a few seconds late," Yamaki spoke up as the boy made his reentry to Hypnos . "Where have you been?"

"On a little wet spot.." Takato mumbled embarrassingly while he wiped his shins with a towel that he promised to bring back to Rika.

"Hmm…" Yamaki stared at Takato, not approving of Takato's new fashion sense. "Well, Takato, the new employee just came here. She's programming right now, adjusting a few algorithms that'll speed up our objective."

"Where is she programming?"

"Right over there, Takato," Janyuu pointed a finger at the individual. Takato turned, and he went "Gah!" in awe at the non-digital sight.

The woman was in her 30s, Takato knew this because she was only in her 20s last time he saw her, and last time was almost 10 years back. The new recruit donned a standard Hypnos garb, much as the one donned by Yamaki's spouse and partner at work, Riley. She had maintained that long brunette hair that dribbled down to her waist, and her face still had those alert brown eyes, the small nose, and her chest…Wait, where'd that come from?

"Takato, what is it?" Janyuu warily asked his shocked stepson.

"That's……that's Ms. Asaji!" Takato spoke, lower jaw still gaping.

"Perceptive boy, isn't he, Janyuu?" Yamaki smiled at Dr. Wong.

Janyuu straightened his faltering glasses up his nose. "Takato…You…know this recruit?"

"Not just do I know her, I went to classes from her. I knew her math homework was from some other dimension!"

"Other dimension?"

Takato refocused on the elder scientist to define his enigmatic expression. "Other dimension, as in near impossible to figure out in this dimension?"

"Well, Takato, good news," Janyuu patted the shoulders of Takato's pseudo-leather jacket. "Not just is Nami Asaji going to help you restore the Digital World, but she won't have to assign you any math problems anymore, and I'm telling you, Takato, her computation skills are as sharp as a knife!"

Takato lowered his eyes in sarcasm. "Yeah, sharp as knife…" he perked a boyish smile, "and dull as gray."

"Dull as what?!" came that creepy and reprimanding tone.

"AHH!" Takato screamed, and he turned over to meet Asaji, who herself gasped quite loudly at seeing him. "Asaji, I'm sorry! Please don't put me in some kind of detention!" Takato ruffled his sugar-brown hairbreadth.

"Takato Matsuda? Here?" Asaji softened, watching her former student backing up from her. She looked at Yamaki. "You didn't tell me Takato knew about this place."

"He doesn't just know about this place," Yamaki replied. "He works here." The Hypnos leader paused to wipe smudges off his sunglasses. "4 years of experience. Knows the Digital World left and right, most of it…Goes well with the dental plan and insurance plan. Misses Guilmon like a father misses a son…I think you know the tip of his qualifications by now."

"Takato..it's been quite a while, I mean, and yet, you're not that much different."

"Well, um, I'm kind of taller, and things have been looking pretty girl, I mean, pretty good. Heh, heh," Takato shrugged his shoulders, wiping his lab coat for no real reason. "It's good to know you're on board."

"I bet. Do you still know your one, two, threes? Or do you still call them the three, two, ones?"

"Alright, enough babbling between you two," said Yamaki. "I hate to break up introductions, but the Digital World has no time to stop for nothing, even if it's Valentine's Day in September."

"What are you talking about?" Asaji asked, scratching her long hair.

"Figure it out yourself, cause I've got to-ARGH! URR!" Yamaki dropped his sunglasses and collapsed onto the floor like he was shot by an assassin. Asaji turned across the Hypnos lab, wondering who just got Yamaki, but Takato and Janyuu dropped everything and was pinning down the screaming, convulsing Hypnos leader.

"Takato, what are you doing? You're supposed to help him!" Asaji knelt towards her former student.  
  


"I AM helping him!" Takato then called louder to Riley and the other scientists. "RILEY, YAMAKI'S HAVING A SEIZURE! GET AN AMBULANCE NOW!"

"Oh my God!" Riley handed her cell phone to a colleague, who grabbed it and dialed numbers without question. She then thrust open a case with a hypodermic needle, and she scampered down the echoing stairs and came to the side of her psychotic husband Yamaki, whose irises were rolling away from the sights of his rescuers. Riley planted a palm on the side of Yamaki's shoulder and jabbed the needle ever carefully. She loathed stabbing anything to her husband, but whatever hurt came from the needle was all third rate to the pain swelling within him.

MTs were on Yamaki's side in no time, and they carried him out on a stretcher before carrying him via an emergency chopper. Everything felt like seconds when it was really minutes, but once Yamaki was out, the time slowed again.

But everyone wished it still moved fast. That way, Yamaki would not have to suffer so.

Riley watched the departing chopper from a window, and bowed her head on it, sighing quietly as not to express any weakness before the other workers of the Hypnos Project. She shared Yamaki's prideful demeanor, and was not willing to drop it so long as Yamaki lived. "Alright, everyone!" she ordered calmly, "Back to your positions! Report whatever you can salvage about the Digital World."

******************************************************************************

At Takato's post, Asaji was tapping a ball-point pen lightly over the keys on the keyboard right before her. Takato was busy adjusting a digital camera, one intended to scan wide portions of the digital hemispheres where Guilmon, Renamon and company were residing. However, he couldn't shun his eyes from seeing Asaji looking…guilty, of something. The tapping was more from being stunned than being focused on those algorithms Takato couldn't possibly read in another hundred years.

"Asaji," Takato began speaking. He turned back to the camera and shut the lens in case he smudged it while having this conversation. "You've got to punch in the coordinates for Z3. I can't go anywhere unless you do that."

"………"

"Asaji…" Takato spoke irritated. It was not liked him to stalk around anyone who wasn't listening to him. He usually thought the person got burnt out and needed major peace, which was earth's rarest resource. But Asaji, he had known her not to be the peaceful one, so dropping the old act kind of scared him.

"Takato…I'm sorry out there."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm sorry I didn't know Yamaki had that. And even then, I didn't try to keep him down or do anything about that."

"Don't be sorry, Asaji. This was the first day on the job, and Yamaki's a little unprofessional for keeping his problem to himself and his wife. Yamaki will be fine. It's not been the first time that's happened to him."

"Then how long did he get that, and why?"

"For about four years, I can't quite remember, but I think it was four years. The 'why' part, I'm not sure, and I don't want to ask Riley about that, cause she's the next authority in line after Yamaki."

"Oh…So unfortunate. I'm grateful no student of mine was stricken while I was teaching….And Takato, Yamaki kind of dropped this when he collapsed," Asaji held up a red zip disk, with a label sticker but no words etched on it. "Can't I give this back to Riley at the very least?"

"Nah, keep it. Riley is in P.O. mode, and she doesn't want to meet anything resembling her husband's seizure," he then whispered to the teacher's ear, "even our words. So let's just get this job done and get Guilmon and everybody else out into the earth."

"Okay, Takato," she whispered and slid the disk into Takato's plastic disk box, shutting the lid and rolling the ball-point pen behind the monitor. "Don't mind keeping it there?"

"It's okay. I don't forget so easily."

"Okay." She set her hands over the keys and typed rapidly, about a hundred words per minute. "Time for the mathematician to play us another song," she spoke as the keys emitted the loudest, most curious sounds resounding through the lab of the Hypnos Project. 

To Be Continued….

Not much? I know. But I'm doing mucho duty, writing for all sorts of people. Hope you amigos like this! Adios, until then!


	5. Brief Relax

A/N: Buenos dias, amigos! It is I, Tajeri Lynn once again, here now to deliver you out of boredom with the fourth installment of "Takato Wong"! Anyone who reviewed my fic from FFN will have the opportunity to read the continuation of the series while the site's in limbo. Extremo Luchadore will not keep the fans waiting. Why be struck down by FFN's problems when one such as I can deliver the entertainment to your home? So, here it is, Chapter 4 of "Takato Wong"!

Phase D: Brief Relax

Man. What a bad night that was. All that comfort of Asaji being my technical assistant was jarred by another panic attack of Yamaki's. And it didn't get any better. Riley walked across us with the whitest white I've ever known, something like an eerie hue of snow.

Janyuu Wong came to me bearing heavy problems. The government agents babysitting Hypnos were outraged that Yamaki had concealed his problem for so long. Within minutes of the incident, they gave Riley and us the big ultimatum; either we get the job done by the end of the quarter or Hypnos will be shut down for good. Gee, exactly what good can come out of that?

******************************************************************************

"Hey, Henry," Takato shuffled a wandering hand over the bunch of disks in his casket.

"Hello, Takato," Henry sat on his bed, finally waking up at 9:30am. It was Henry's bedroom, and while the young Jenrya occupied this living space exclusively for himself, he also had the only home PC in the apartment. That occasionally meant Takato dabbled mornings in typing keys up and down. Henry didn't really have trouble while Takato was typing noisily. When he finished having cool dates with girls, the thrills had all the soporific he needed.

"HELLO, TAKATO!" screamed Terriermon in a tone that nearly blew an ear drum to heck.

"Yagh!" the resonant voice of Terriermon sent Takato careening off the wooden arm chair, his sock-laden feet twitching from landing brown hair-first.

"Terriermon, that wasn't terribly funny," Henry chided.

Terriermon smiled evilly. "Your receptions are becoming warm as ice, you know that? Lucky you got me around to spice up your life."

Henry pointed eyes up at the ceiling and sighed. "If that's what you call lucky, I don't want to know what's not!"

"Hew-wo, everybody," Susie arrived into the room. She sat next to Takato and queried in her womanly voice. "Takato, we're gonna bake that cake this morning, like you promised?"

"Cake? Did someone say cake?!" Terriermon popped up. "How long were you keeping this a secret, Takato?"

"It wasn't a secret to begin with, Terriermon. Didn't Henry tell you about it?" Takato eyed his stepbrother, having entrusted him with the duty.

"Pff! Why would he?" Terriermon glared, paws on his wee hips. "All Henry did yesterday was go out with Jeri. He didn't even get some!"

Susie opened her eyes. "Get some what? Cookies and cream? Nope, he didn't get any, that's for sho! Hee hee!"

"Mmmgh! I'm NOT going to get some until I get married, okay?" Henry bitterly replied. "And marriage can wait. College is more important." Henry went to the bathroom to get going with a 20-minute shave.

Terriermon watched his master depart hurriedly. "Sigh. Gone are the days when youth ran wild, huh, Takato?"

"I-don't think we ever saw those days, Terriermon…" Takato chuckled. "There…just save it to disk…and done! Okay, everybody, time to put your mittens on."

******************************************************************************

"My mitts suck!" Terriermon bemoaned, as he tried pushing them in. Everyone had a proper niche in the kitchen. Usually, Takato led the way while it was up to the rest to set forth the necessary supplies for bakery heaven. Terriermon continued wrestling with his oven mitts. "Urr…Uhhh! They got shrunk the last time they were in the wash!"

"Terriermon, you don't wash those gloves everyday," Henry lectured again. "Not like anything in the cake's got food poisoning."

"Easy for you to say, health inspector! You took us to an oyster bar and we all got sick! And when I got on your bad side, you hit Jeri, who was right behind me! Yeesh, when you see red, you're always seeing the wrong person."

  
"Not anymore-!" Henry chased a screaming Terriermon outside of the kitchen.

That left Takato and Susie alone as the master and his digimon began destroying the room more so than nine cats.

"They're weally good friends, aren't they?" Susie smiled, feigning innocence to her older stepbro.

"I'll say," sighed Takato. "Thanks to their cooperation, that's four less hands for the both of us."

"Better make it two less hands! Open the window up, please, thank you!"

Susie ran toward the source of the melody. "Hey, it's Calumon!"

"Yep, Calumon…" Takato had been aware of Calumon's habits in the real world. Unlike Terriermon, Calumon was safe from many of Shinjuku's criminals, especially the Crazers. Being the freaky digimon fans that they were, the Crazers worshipped Calumon wherever they saw him, praising him as the deity of evolution that would help them fulfill their quest. Calumon didn't know whether their quest really was true, but he was glad that the Crazers kept offering him food, be it a candy bar or something fresh out of a fried chicken restaurant. But nothing did ever taste as scrumptious as Takato's legendary wares.

"Open up, open up, open up!" Calumon danced across the window. "Making more yummy yum treats, yes you are! Hmm hmm!"

Takato called from the oak kitchen table while Susie climbed herself to the window. "Hey, Calumon, since you love cake so much, why don't you help us make a cake you'd really like?"

"Hooray! I'm gonna bake a caake! I'm gonna bake a caake!" Calumon sang a reply.

Susie was more than happy to oblige when it came to opening the window for Calumon. Unlike Terriermon, Mr. Evo himself loved dressing pretty and going out into Susie's world of shopping malls, playgrounds and veggie-bistros. He came to the Wong apartment every weekend, well aware that by then his flat little nostrils would detect a whiff of something warm, sweet and fresh for the eating. Calumon was no doubt grateful that Takato had never strayed from bakery, even though it now became a hobby rather than a job. But in the mind of a digimon who simply savored Takato's wares, what indeed was the difference?

Riiiing!

"Ooh…The oven's done? I thought I was gonna bake a cake!" Calumon moaned, ears shrunk back to diminutive convenience.

"No, Calumon, that's not the oven. That's the phone!" Susie explained, pointing up to where a white phone was nailed to the wall beside the refrigerator.

"I'll get it!" Terriermon grabbed the receiver, hoping to observe an excuse from his million-dollar insult.

"No you're not!" Henry continued the merciless chase. Terriermon obviously ditched the phone for his life, and before running, captitalized on Henry's slip on the floor by raising double birds who began hopping up and down visibly. Henry seethed and dashed through the door, knocking a garbage can that went "kin-kang-kong!" as it was sent into the living room for the first time in 20 years.

"Argh, I'll get it!" an irate Takato resolutely grabbed the phone hung against the refrigerator's right plane. He set up a bag of unbleached flour, a rough cardboard carton of eggs, and a couple of measuring spoons chained together by a lone metal ring. Breathing a sigh of calm, Takato whipped the phone to his ear. "Yeah, hello?"

"Hello, Takato."

"Oh hi, Asaji," Takato spoke, resting the receiver carefully between his right cheek and his respective shoulder. "What's up? I mean, what's going on?"

"Don't worry, Takato. I know what's up. And what's up is that I need…um…a little warm up, of sorts….Preparation for the real world, you know?"

"Warm…Up? You don't mean…"

"A date, Takato. It's just that I haven't dated in so long, and I need someone familiar to get that old groove back again. Add to that, we can learn about our histories since the Shinjuku Shock. There's so much I'd like to know about my favorite, er, memorable student."

"Whoa, a date? Ah, gee, Asaji, you sure? You know, a date could be fine and…"

"A date? Oooh! Takato's got a goil-fwend!" Susie teased in that lisping tone again. The lisp was a favorite shrinking weapon of hers, as in shrinking egos.

"Takato, who's that?"

"That's Susie, my sister, sort of. We're at home, baking a cake."

"Don't forget about me!" Calumon spoke up. "Hello, strange little voice box! Are you a digimon? I'm baking a cake!"

"And that's Cally, my little brother," Takato groaned. He quickly squeezed a palm on the phone and called out, "Guys, start mixing the bowl of ingredients altogether! I'm busy talking to…my friend!"

A muffled giggle came from the other side. Takato blushed.

"Okay, Takato, I'm not going to waste your time. Feel free to do the baking again. Tonight at 8, the Shoma Cuisine, is it a date?"

"Yup, sure. See ya then. Guess I'm playing the teacher this time around, huh?"

"I know this stuff's your favorite subject. Bye, Mr. Matsuda," Asaji warmly bade farewell.

Click!

Takato sighed as he hung up. Matsuda was no longer supposed to be his name, and she still wasn't aware of that.

"Why is this spoon so flat?" Calumon held up a wooden baking spoon. "Putting the flour in the bowl's so hard."

Susie provided him a copper ladle, of which Calumon grabbed speedily and took to his own merry advantage. She had known much of the baking talents of Takato for the last decade. She looked back at Takato. "And I thought wittle Takato was afraid of cooties!"

"Uh, um, Susie, I'm not afraid of cooties. I thought you knew that since I started dating Rika."

actually she's just an old teacher. I mean she's kind of young, but I've known her for a long time," Takato replied. "Her name's Asaji. I bet you she jumped 10 years into the present, because she hasn't changed one teeny bit."

"Well, I sure haven't changed one bit," Calumon replied. "I'm still teeny-weeny."

"Only in terms of up and down," Takato chuckled. "You're growing right and left, Calumon. Keep eating my desserts and we're gonna need a bigger window for you."

"Weally big window! That's for sho'!"

 "Man, Asaji's like, one of the funniest teachers I ever knew. I remember how I once scared her by sneaking Kenta's hamster into her blouse, and man, she started jumping out of the classroom like Kazu left his firecrackers on the floor. Then the principal came and asked us why she was dancing in the hallway in her underwear, and next thing I knew, all of us ran over him to check her out. Oh gosh, the look on her face I'll never forget."

"Oh mon! What a cool story!" Terriermon said.

"That may be cool, but I'm not!" the piping red Henry continued running after him.

Terriermon screamed as if his mouth was his only dire weapon. "Yeah, then you suck, Henry! AAAH!!"

Takato grabbed the cake batter that Calumon handed upon his request. "Anyways, it's gonna be great meeting Asaji again. It's not really a date, Susie, just a little reunion, or something like that. She deserves to know where I've been in the past decade, what I've done. Too bad she lacks a sweet tooth. There's more than enough cake to go around for the rest of us."

"Don't worry!" said Calumon. "Just send the leftovers to my house! I was meaning to give you my map, Takato."

 "Uh, Calumon, this map shows your home to be in West Shinjuku Park."

"That's right. I made a tree house there, like the Swiss Army Robinson!"

"Wow!" said Susie. "Can we see your house after this?"

"Yeah, how bout after we eat our shares of the cake?" Takato slid up a blunt knife off the drawer. "Nami Asaji won't be for another 6 hours."

"Of course! You always make lots of yummy-yums for me. You're the best buddies I could ever have."

"Unlike me and Henry!" cried Terriermon, who managed a distance to huff and puff. "Someone call 9-1-1! He's acting like a gazelle in mating season!"

"Mating Season?! Terriermon!!!" Junks of flying pots and turned-over furniture threatened to turn the rest of the apartment room upside down.

"How long have they been playing tag?" a curious Calumon asked Susie.

Susie held an index finger to her chin in deep thought. "I don't know. An hour, maybe?"

"Hmm. Maybe they should play hide and seek."

Takato topped the batter with a basketful of strawberries. "Nah, Cally. Running around's good for them. About time they go on a diet."

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A/N: Everybody was worried that I had fallen flat and died. Well, fear not, luchadores, I am back and have given you this sneak preview, just in case you couldn't wait (and I know you couldn't…) Continue to post reviews and I will take them into consideration for the next few chapters! Adios, from Tajeri Lynn!


	6. Seeing RedWhiteBlackand Green

A/N: Once in a while, Tajeri Lynn gets so tired of his writings that he needs a time out. But for a story as wildly popular as this one, arguably the most popular in his fanfic tenure...something's got to give. So I'm giving you another taste of what's been getting this story on....You'll know what I mean.

Alrighty then, Mr. Vawter, I'll keep Rika's hairdo the way it is...not like I've actually found a new idea for it.

Much thanks for the comments, Java86, you really do read my mind on this. My lemons and adventure stories are like ying and yang. My lemons are packed with descriptions, but the dialogue leaves something to be desired, and my adventures are flooding with lots of dialogue but lack descriptions....Kinda nearly makes "Takato Wong" a script, don't it?

Flamedramon, Tajeri Lynn's not quite oriented towards Tamer couplings. (All the really cool couplings come from Season 2.) But Rika/Takato is cool....I just haven't gotten over the bakery romp story where Takato and Jeri....you know...

And before anyone starts asking this....my name's not based on Takato+Jeri. I, Tajeri Lynn the Extremo Luchadore, am based on the names of three different wrestlers. Hint: Asai Moonsault, Cradle Piledriver and Rolling Surfboard.

Anyways, welcome y'all to Chappie 6 of the novella corta....

****

Takato Wong

Phase F: Seeing Red...White...Black...and Green.

Gee, what a strange day this is becoming. I've kinda baked a cake for Calumon and I'm getting a date with my teacher Asaji? Suddenly, I feel a lot older than I'm really supposed to be. But oh well, first things first, and I've got to get a box of cake to Calumon's tree house. It's summer, of course, so everything's a wild array of green and brown colors like the ones in my crayon box. Maybe someday after this techno stuff, I'll retire and become an artist...How I wish to draw all kinds of stuff again amongst the fresh park air and flying leaves all around me. I think that's kind of cool, don't you? Well, it would be cool unless kids start throwing boomerangs all over the place. Then, I'm gonna have to run for my life. 

Anyways, Calumon's merrily leading the way for us guys. My teen sister Susie's behind me, as is Henry and Terriermon. Uh oh, did I just say Henry and Terriermon? I don't think they've gotten over their arguments just yet... Oh, man. Here they go again..Should have bought ear plugs when I had the chance.

"Jeri doesn't suck! In fact, you once said to me Renamon sucks!"

"Yeah, she sucks dips, Henry, dips! You know, chocolate, vanilla, orange and raspberry? Are you DEEF or something? Or perhaps the wrong head is listening to all this!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know what I mean!" Terriermon stamped a foot angrily. He paced a couple of steps towards Henry's jeans and yelled from a direct spot between the legs. "Hey, you getting all this, or do I have to punch you to wake you up?!"

Henry was seething red. He scrunched Terriermon in the clutches of squeezed legs. "Ack! Help!" Terriermon cried desperately. "I'm being banged by my master and I can't get up! Whoop!" Terriermon, with all his diminutive muscles, managed a retreat from the legs and rocketed into the scrawny legs of Takato, who was busy holding the pink cake box for Calumon.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Takato yelled as he flung the box and leaned his comparatively towering form against that of Calumon's. The green-eyed digimon was unable to configure the abrupt shadow until it dawned on him....literally.

Susie jumped and caught the cake box. Peering inside and seeing it was completely unfazed, she turned to see Calumon squashed like dough under Takato. "Aah! Calumon!"

"Aah!" yelled Henry and Terriermon as they impulsively held on to each other. When they realized what they were doing, they growled at once, "YOU!" and they pounded fist and feet all over one another before disappearing afar into the forests. They both screamed aloud and their voices faded as if they were departing further away from the group. 

Mr. Evo popped off Takato, dancing mindlessly. "Ow! Oooh...." a spirally-eyed Calumon flipflopped on a bed of rowans and marigolds, seeking comfort among the unmovable.

Takato pulled himself together and ran his sneakers towards the little digimon on the floor, unsure whether to cup his hands under the digimon he hurt by accident. "Calumon! Oh man, I'm so sorry about this."

The small digimon rose his oval feet back in place. "It's okay, Takato. I'm still hop, up, and running! Hm hmm!"

"Oh?" Takato smiled in relief. "Glad you're not smarting, Cally. You're kinda strong for a little guy. Here..Let me help you up there for the moment."

WA-KONG!

"You're not going help anyone, brutes for brains!" a voice shouted just as the back of Takato's head got scrunched by an empty garbage can, which got indented midway inside. Takato reeled from the can shot and teeter-tottered carelessly before a second shot sent him a-tumbling head first onto an aged oak tree. The collision drove Takato senseless.

"Hey! Wha-What are you doing?" Calumon cried white in fright....though one couldn't really tell.

"Easy, Calumon." The man with the garbage can spoke, raising the can up as well. "You're in safe hands now... Buddies, get Calumon out of here. This'll be ugly."

"Hey! Wait! You can't! Murgle murgle murg!" Calumon was hastily grabbed out of the park by one kid.

Susie gasped upon the instance the assault commenced on her stepbrother. She wound her neck back to see four youths, almost about Takato's age, but a little sharper in the face by a couple of years more. The head youth tipped the scales at 300, and he rose over Susie, creating a shadow that blocked Mr. Sun's jolly path to the littlest of the Wongs.

Susie clasped her shocked mouth and sneered in bitter lips. Shoving the cake box beside a sturdy yew bench, she stood up and pointed a deadly-mad finger at the heart of the ringleader. "I don't know who you are, but nobody hurts Takato like that!"

"Oh, for what, for banging on the great Calumon like that? You're no different than Mr. Rise and Shine over there. You belong with him!" The head youth rose the garbage can with stoutly imitation. "Raaah!"

Yawning innocently, Susie paused until the youth came rushing his cordovas in close enough. She tipped herself, allowing her meek sandal-laden legs to swindle the youth's left to the floor. The resulting toehold sent the suddenly panicked youth's face helplessly shaking left and right as it tasted the stinky steel with a jaw-rattling crash!

The four friends gasped as they saw their leader down for the count. Smelling victory, Susie walked over to the groaning youth's back and clapped a foot several times onto the orangey ground. "One-a, two-a, three-a! Yay! I win! That makes pwetty Susie the new champion!" She danced on her toes jollily. 

"Oh yeah?!" a tall, skinny member of the lot brazenly broke the celebration. "Well, ummah, if Susie's the new champion, then, ummah, it's high time for a handicap title defense! Get 'er, boys!" The rest of the troupe came rushing in.

"AHH! Takato, Henry, Tewwiamon!"

"Huh?!" Henry rose his face up from the grain fields, where he was landing Terriermon a days' worth of forearms smashes. He watched from above the hill. "Susie! The Crazers! Man, I feel so stupid!"

"You're telling me", Terriermon dizzily laid on the patch of flattened grass, nursing a purplish bruise on his cheek. "Any minute later and we'll look like we got laid! Whoa!"

"No time for assy-nine crap! Susie's in trouble!" Henry clutched his digimon's ear, causing the dog-like digimon to be sailing across Henry's magnificent agility. "Alright, then. Stop acting like you're my husband!" Terriermon audibly bade a release from the clutch, so Henry did as both guys came pacing up the hill's tilting incline like it was never there.

Henry was the first of the two to arrive. He saw Tall and Skinny clambering across the ground to clutch a fallen Susie's leg. An already incensed Jianliang grabbed a clean garbage lid from nearby and leapt into the air. His frog-like legwork skateboarded three-inches thick of steel onto the Crazer's face, busting the lower and perhaps the upper jaws. Tall and Skinny was jolted so hard by the hit that he rose his head up in unconsciousness before he slumped back first to the dirt.

From the right of Henry, another Crazer ran forward, relying only on anger and a thirst for destruction for combat. Just as he outreached both arms against Henry, the Crazer overestimated the younger boy's knack for reaching his foes on such a level. Henry buried his face against the Crazer's chest, allowing a minute headbutt that froze the attacker with a startle, before lithe arms readily manipulated the kid's entire body over Henry's right shoulder. As Henry's legs ran crazily towards the hill, the foe rocketed off like he was part of some fucked-up space program. The Crazer's whiny screams pierced the atmosphere until they became grunts and urks as his limbs flopped wayward like a dummy. It didn't take long before bits of turf and fragile rocks unwittingly joined the trail of the human log.

Smiling nastily, Henry clapped his dirty hands and blew the orange hues off them confidently. "What's wrong?" he called out to the hill. "I thought you liked being crazy. Oof!"

The Head Youth had regained composure at record time. Spitting a spat of saliva to calm his still smarting jaw, he rammed the already crumpled trash can against Henry's back. He went for a third swing of the can, but Henry slid his body like a skateboard and leapt from right behind the Head Youth with an anticipated leap kick. The Head turned around and simply made his comments known with an overhead swing that sent Henry's flying body scrambling right behind a wooden bench, of which he fell back into. The Head Youth saw a chance to capitalize and dashed even faster with his can. On his shaken knees, Henry was seeing double vision of his enemy, but his martial arts stamina conquered the done injuries and his rough hands clasped the top of the bench to make a move. He springboarded all 150 pounds of himself onto 5-inches thick of wood, and fully aware that the springboard tilted his position forward, Henry leapt forth and kicked both feet in midair. The leap broke through the garbage can and smashed both soles of Henry's sneakers into the Crazer's jaw. The Crazer spun around like a broken merry-go-round, raising his head up and down as Terriermon finally came in, grasped the boy's neck and spun him in the old laundry spin cycle before planting him face first to the remains of the can in a desirable crunch!

"Ha hah! You can't beat me! I'm the CCW Tag Team Champion!" Terriermon rose both arms, attempting to get some biceps showing before practically nobody.

"Well, if you're the champion of tag teams, where the hell were you?!" Henry yelled.

"Trying to get the wind back out of my tag team partner, where else?" Terriermon frowned, pointing a finger at Takato's bruised face. Takato still couldn't get up.

"URR!"

"Uh-oh, Henwy, it's not over yet..." Susie pointed to the Head Youth, who now spat blood from his jaw.

"Little snits!" he snarled venomously. "You want a Wargame, then you've got yourselves one! TWEET!" He rose a whistle, and five more fresh Crazers made their way through the stubby shrubs.

"Stop them!" The Head Youth swung limbs and comically leapt up and down in anger. "Punch 'em, kick 'em, or just touch 'em, anything! Just don't let them come clean!"

"Someone say clean?" a blurry, blue-haired figure rushed and leapfrogged from behind the Head Youth before a brown-soled boot nailed its print on his already battered jaw.

"Ooh....I'm getting a heyday with the tooth fairy....Ooh..." He collapsed.

"Boss!" the Crazers cried out at once in confusion.

The figure stamped his shoes on the dust, creating a cloud of mystery around him as he tauntingly swished the lengths of his long jacket. It was Jarvis Thatch. "You guys are a mess yourselves. Good thing cleaning service is right on schedule."

The Crazers looked at each other, not quite absorbing the gist in their sponge-brains. Finally, they ran in, saying, "Pass!"

"Why should you? It's free."

One Crazer landed an elbow, but Jarvis grabbed the arm and locked it from around the hoodlum. His incoming partner foolishly assumed Jarvis was being pinned just in time for a whupping , so a Mach-speed missile drop kick only succeeded in felling the partner by the gut. Jarvis hooked his right arm against the next foe's neck, and just in time, another unwelcome neighbor ran in to get booted on the torso and have his own neck wrapped around as well. With two men under his grips, Jarvis hopped once and next somersaulted over them and crashed the seat of his jeans on the floor, jarring the men's necks heavily against the incredible-short term velocity. Both men went down like felled Sequoias.

"Um," Jarvis turned to Henry and Susie. "A little help wouldn't hurt, would it?"

2 more were all that's left. Jarvis jumped in midair to make a fancy move, but the fourth kid saw it. He dove his face downward and launched a perfect boot arching over his shoulder, sending Jarvis spiraling to the floor. The kid laughed at his success and leapt over Jarvis for a final stomp to seal the fighting deal. But just in time, Henry leapt and grabbed the kid's left, of which Susie decidedly grabbed the right. The kid grunted furiously to escape and attempted to slap both Wongs' faces to hell until Henry and Susie rose both his legs ever higher into the stratosphere and swung 180-degree punches against his crotch region so his spine went splat on the ground like a flimsy pancake. Down for the count, the kid groaned loudly, holding his pants ever tightly like he could pee any minute now.

"Good job, kiddos," Jarvis commented, hands on Susie and Henry's shoulders. "But please, do spare them their weekends."

The fifth one observed all this, and grabbed a broken beer bottle before rushing in.

Jarvis sniffed the air, and fanned his nose, saying, "Yowza! The stench of miller time. Heh, not on my time. Leave this to me, Wongs."

Much as his intuition taught him, Jarvis recognized a drunken idiot when he saw one. The broken bottle disappeared from the bully's calloused hand before Jarvis leapt over him and landed strong loins against his back. Jarvis proceeded to grab the drunkard's back by his arms, and holding him like he carried a human football on his back, he charged towards the awakening Head Youth and threw him down against him. Both Crazers rolled uncontrollably and crashed into a bushel with a sign marking, "Poison Ivy."

"Gaoh! Yaah! Boss, you never said there be itchy shit in the park! Gar, urrk!" The drunkard scratched himself to the point where his own skin was getting roughshod.

"Urr. Never...urr...mind....jah....that! Beat them all to hell. They want hell, we'll give 'em hell!"

"But so far, it's been hell to us...Owch! Don't hurt me!"

"Lout! You want our superior...fock!...to take us to the...guh!...big time? Then stop blubbering!"

"WAIT!" Calumon skipped himself right between the recovering Crazers and the short-of-breath Wongs and Jarvis.

"Sorry, boss!" Calumon's supposed escort ran to the itchy Head Youth. "He just wouldn't accept my help."

"Guys," said Calumon, addressing mainly to the Crazers, "I don't need any help. These people you are fighting are my friends! All of them!"

"Your...friends?" Brimming with extreme skepticism, the Head Youth rose himself as best as he could through his newfound condition. "Then why'd your friends hit you like that?"

"It was just an accident, a big boo boo! They were just having fun, and so was I. You nothing but big meanie-weenies, you know that?!" Calumon angrily hopped to and fro.

"Okay, okay, okay!" the Head Youth swung his palms alarmingly. "Okay, Calumon, we're sorry, my man, er, mon, we don't want to mess around with you around. See, they just don't look like they acting nice and everything."

"Then, maybe you should realize beating them up's not going to get the job done," a menacing, but not cold Jarvis turned to the bowing, ashamed Crazers. He then turned to Henry and Terriermon. "And maybe you should realize where best to elicit your angers, kiddos. You got it?" Henry and Terriermon nodded agreeably, and Terriermon nervously flashed the peace sign with two fingers.

The Crazers all took Jarvis's chide as an easing excuse to leave the stupid park. The Head Youth left last, but before he did, he reared a mean eyebrow and rose an thorny index finger against Jarvis and his buddies, admonishing harshly, "Cally, for your sake we'll be letting your friends go. But let me warn you something. We all scout anywhere we want, whether you're around or not. It's this human justice shit that got your digimon pals stuck where they are, and if idiots like pretty Susie and her friends try to hurt whatever digimon remain, then we're not going to stop at anything. We won't stop until the Digital World comes back to earth. And if it never does come, we're going to have to beat us some solace. Remember that." The Head Youth vanished into the shrubs, but the shrubs shook quiet violently. "Ah, man! Why no one post a sign by this ivy!? Dagnabbit!" The cursing faded away around the time the rustling faded too.

"Jaw-vis! I mean, Jarvis!" Susie giggled. "You're not wrestling...are you?"

"You know the old saying; falls count anywhere!" Patting dust of his jeans, Jarvis straightened spectacles and winked at the girl. "I just happened to be by the neighborhood. I came by wondering what those hoodlums were doing."

"Why?" Henry queried, relaxing his tense knuckles.

"Crazers are CCW fans. Thumbtacks, electrified barb wire, sickles....These guys have the hots for such stuff. Good thing they never watch the daytime show. Otherwise, they'd have known about my loss to your Terriermon and Taka....." Jarvis reared his head around across his friends and the trees. "Say, if Susie and Terriermon are here, where's Taka?"

"Oh, you just reminded me!" Terriermon ran towards where Takato laid against an oak tree. "My tag partner's down for the ole 1-2-3. Sucks! We never even landed any of our five-star double teams!" He shook the limp 20-year old's body, and Takato's arms were flailing about listlessly like he was Terriermon's wooden boy.

Jarvis put a dusty hand to Takato's head. He sensed the oddness as much the same way as a certain Dr. Kido would. "Ut oh....Our buddy's got a temporary concussion. Maybe a quick trip to the hospital ought to do. It's only two blocks away from here."

Susie rummaged under the bench where she concealed the pink cake box, which she thus handed charitably in front of Calumon. "We're sorry, Calumon. We'll have to leave you with the cake."

"Don't worry, Susie," Calumon smiled, both ears fluffed up again. "All this talking and fighting's making me hungry!" He opened the box and immediately dove into the layers of cream that was the cake. "Mmm, mmm, mmm! Hope Takato gets back up to finish eating his date!" Mr. Evo busied himself into the cake so eagerly that he never minded listening to the rest of the conversation. The box itself shook and began quivering far off into the forest. "Goodbye! Thank you very much. Be back next time!"

"Hope Calumon won't have to squeeze into our windows next time," chuckled Henry, before he straightened his throat and urged himself a straight face to Jarvis. "Hey, Jarvis, Calumon raised up a good point. My brother's got a date with someone tonight, in about five hours or so. Will he make it?"

"Grab his right while I grab his left and pace on. We'll find the answer soon enough. Come on, Susie, come on, Terriermon. This way, right now." Jarvis pointed at the pathway between a pair of poison ivy bushes.

"Can't we just call them?" Terriermon put arms to his hips in authoritative manner. "There's a toll phone right next to me, you know! And this park's a lot more dangerous than last I remembered."

"A quarter saved is a quarter earned," Henry spoke matter-of-factly as the two conscious boys grabbed Takato and Susie followed, walking right between where the poison ivy bushes were. Making past the ill obstacles, all four humans suddenly disappeared and a couple of blunt thumps reached the ears of Terriermon.

"Um, Terriermon!" Henry helplessly shrilled out. "Call the hospital, please?"

Terriermon walked right at the edge of a pit from which his friends fell. Takato laid sprawled over all three of them. Lucky that his friends broke the fall. Terriermon pointed happy index fingers at them. "Hah! Knew it! I told you we should've called instead."

"Then why didn't you say **anything**?!" Henry, Jarvis and Susie boomed out in unspeakably unfriendly manners. 

Terriermon shrugged his barely-there shoulders innocently, before retorting in his oh-so sound logic. "Hey, you were blocking my vision. How can I possibly navigate if you went ahead of me?"

Veins close to bursting, Henry muttered his hoarse breath to his sister and Jarvis. "After Terriermon saves us....remind me to KILL HIM!!!"

To Be Continued... 

I admit it. The Extremo Luchadore got REAL tired from this. Hope this lot was worth your time. Till next time, adios, amigos!


	7. Into the Mist

A/N: "Takato Wong" soars again with the seventh episode in this unbelievable coaster trekking across earth and beyond. The plot's now thickening so much you can cut it with a knife....Just who invented that phrase, and what does that ever mean? Tajeri Lynn doesn't know, but let's move on now to letters from fellow reviewers.

To Java86: Extremo Luchadore admits it; I don't really have a good notion of how Calumon acts. I never actually saw the entire Tamers storyline, so all I really know is the Deva Saga towards the D-Reaper battle. I suppose Calumon has greater roles to play before then, so that may account for the OOC touch you're talking about. Not to worry, though; Calumon may not have a huge role in the series as will anyone else.

Tajeri Lynn loves Jeri; she's the best character in the Tamers universe, but I have too much respect for her that I fear I'll mess up her character. Anybody care to help me with a few pointers on her?

One other thing; Insanity, you say? I remember WWE's The Rock speaking in 3rd person in every wrestling show he attends. Are you saying The Rock's insane as well?

To Devidramon: Didn't you read Chapter 6, by the by? It had Jarvis and a little touch of CCW in a park.

Takato/Nami....Heh heh...Tajeri Lynn is wondering who'll ever get that done again, since Nami's not a listed character in the options. Only fellow with the balls turns out to be a lemon writer. (Don't remember his name).

To anyone: In case you haven't known, this story isn't restricted to the children alone; the adults get to have some roles so fill me in on Mitsuo Yamaki and Reika's character's whenever possible. This is why Janyuu's accordingly second main character in the fic, or is it Susie? I normally would've picked Terriermon, since he's got an awfully huge pop for this series. This brings up my next comment.

WHY, OH WHY, AREN'T THE DIGIMON THEMSELVES LISTED IN THE CHARACTER'S SECTIONS?!

Um-hmm, well no one will have to worry about that in Digimon 04...or will they?

****

Takato Wong

Phase G: Into the Mist

Takato laid still on a small stretcher with his blue tee and gray slacks intact. All he noticed when he woke up was the sterile whiteness of the minute hospital room. The shadows were about the only marks accentuating the numerous doctoring paraphernalia arranged anywhere he turned that bandaged head of his.

Bandaged? There was something new. Takato pressed a hand to his head. Yup, a long, cotton strap was applied there, and it sure had an icky hospital smell that would've demanded Takato to catch some Z's for an extra hour.

Then his magenta eyes caught the hand signals, the ones performed by the ever-ominous clock, friend to none and enemy to all, his true father once told him. The clock read the time; 6:30pm. For heave's sake, he had a date with Asaji 90 minutes from now, and regardless whether she was his elementary school teacher or a Playmate of the Year, Asaji would be unsatisfied for a student of hers to break a promise. Good thing graduated students are exempt from detention.

"Takato?"

"Hi, Janyuu....J-J-Janyuu?!" Takato's magenta eyes widened and his face rose up to the man standing before him.

It was Janyuu Wong. The blue-haired scientitst with the unmistakable squarish facade was looking down quite seriously at his stepson, though it was of a concern that would normally go beyond a bad brawl against teenage anarchists. His eyes were half-closed, as if there was a most awkward business that was in his place to rectify. And since they still remained half-closed, the business had not been rectified yet.

"Janyuu, er, Dad, what's happened? I mean, aside from me getting beat up back at the park? You don't feel well..."

"Just take a while to relax, Takato," Janyuu put a hand on Takato's sweaty brow. "You just got yourself a concussion. Luckily, your friends kept the bullies from making it any worse."

"Gee, I'd salute to them if I wasn't resting," Takato was oddly deep in thought. "Where's everybody, anyway?"

"Everybody took a hard fall trying to get you out, Takato. There was a ditch in the park and no one saw it coming, not even Henry and Susie. Too bad you were the one out of it. I bet you could've guided them away from it."

"True, true....So everyone's...?"

"At the front entrance, a few bandages around places but nothing serious. Henry told me about your date with Nami," Janyuu smiled in a parental tease of pride. "That'll be quite interesting."

"Ahh! He told you?! Gah, Embarassment City..." a sweatdropped Takato conceded in a moan. There was no use in hiding anything from Janyuu after all.

"Don't fret, Takato, you're more grown up than most youths your age. After seeing what the Digital World can do, I don't get surprised easily anymore...."

"Oh, these bandages are so tight," Takato complained as he lightly tried a relaxation on the straining bandages applied to his brow. "Just where am I?"

"W-West Shinjuku Hospital, the nearest there is," Janyuu replied with a slight jitter in his voice, a sign of reluctance. Though there was purpose in concealing the wherabouts, there was little use in doing so. By now, Takato would be too active not to leave the hospital without ever noticing it.

"West Shinjuku? Hey, this is where Yamaki's being treated," Takato planted the small of his back against the bed's vertical side, sighing calmly as this had been his first time sitting up. His eyes lit up. "Hey, that reminds me....How's the old man doing? Didn't have to get a straitjacket on, did he?" Takato chuckled half-heartedly, realizing halfway out of impulse that he had just poked fun at a serious topic.

"Takato..." Janyuu began as he swiveled an arm uneasily, as if trying to grasp the best point. "What's happening to Yamaki should not be too important.." He knelt his face below focus of Takato, rapidly hesitant as to the best words to speak. "It's....it's...."

"Why?" Takato looked at Janyuu. "Janyuu, did something happen to Yamaki. Something bad?"

Janyuu smiled nervously. "6:40, Takato. If you're ready to go, you should dress up for that cafe you had in plan. Wouldn't want to keep Asaji waiting, cause she's always concerned of deadlines."

"Dad, you're changing the subject, that's just not you." Takato replied. "What's happened to Yamaki? If I don't know now, I'll know later, anyway. I'm more than prepared for the truth right now, I've got plenty of time. Like you said, 6:40." His eyes glowed of anticipation and scared Janyuu, not because they were fierce, but because they couldn't know of the bad news that erupted from seemingly nowhere.

Janyuu knew there was little recourse.

"Takato, because you're a strong and honest employee in Hypnos, I'll let you know if you want to...." He gave a gentle squeeze on Takato's shoulder, sensing an ever-ready sturdiness in his son. His voice was so soft that it could never budge a particle of dust. "Takato, about half an hour before you came here, Mitsuo Yamaki disappeared from his designated room."

Takato this time thrust newfound energy to his legs, levelling his knees down on the cotton stretcher with a slam of bewilderment. The stretcher now felt like a prison. "WHAT!? Yamaki disappeared? HOW?"

Janyuu removed his glasses and clutched his shut eyes ostensibly. "It's too complex, Takato. Remember when I've said nothing could surprise me anymore? Well, just not this one." He gasped a bit, this outpour of news was too overbearing.

"And no one saw him disappear? I can't believe it. Did he break a window or something? Was he paranoid?"

"Takato, don't just jump out of the stretcher....To answer your question, we don't think paranoia was involved. But the window opposite Yamaki's room had a perfectly circular hole, like someone carved an exit. We have reason to believe Yamaki's been kidnapped, Takato, though the contrivance done to the window only theorizes how, not really why. Yamaki's made a lot of enemies in the government, surely he has, but why would someone carve a window just to hold him down from us? It's impractical.

"Well, look at your father...I'm talking so much, I think my hair's getting white," Janyuu softly chuckled, pulling a lone white strand from his head. He straightened his teal plaid collar just a notch in case some kind of heat remained tingling his fears. "But you're young, Takato, no need to get white hair for now. Listen, son, this is a very important matter, but I've called Reika and we've agreed to it that news of Yamaki's disappearance be left to private investigation. No one's allowed to go in, but I'll have to stay here till the investigative branch comes this way. My hands are tied up for the time being, but not yours, Takato. You ready for your date?"

The sudden change of subject yet again shook Takato, so he stood up. "Janyuu, what'll this do to Operation Rebirth? I mean, just when we got so close to bringing back all the digimon to the real world..."

"It's not too serious, as far as what we know. Reika's a very strong woman, so she'll continue the Operation for us, provided that the Board approves of her. We just hope we find Yamaki and learn why he would be kidnapped. My friends always say Yamaki was a man of conspiracy, and my doubts are being thrown out the window, no pun intended."

"Gosh, I hope Yamaki comes back in a lightning flash....Ur...I think my head's aching worse than ever." Takato squeezed his ears until a cold wet towel flopped on his head. He gave his noggin a comforting rub and watched the towel-giver find a perfect opportunity to change the subject.

"Granted. Well, before your head aches worse, take the chance of enjoying life, not fearing for it. Last time to answer the billion-dollar question, Takato. Are you ready for your date?"

"You bet, Janyuu," Takato smiled, pulling himself off the stretcher. "Hopefully getting along with Asaji will make my head feel better."

"Don't bet on it, Takato. Who knows? By next morning, your headache may actually get bigger, but you'll be proud of what you do."

"I don't get it."

"You'll find out when you're old enough," Janyuu smiled, and he carried the boy up to his shoes.

******************************************************************************

"Takato?"

The boy gifted with cinnamon brown hair had stumbled his sneakers back into the front entrance. Close to is was where Henry, Susie and Jarvis were idling by a lone shale bench beside a gratuitous magazine section.

Henry had busily idled his time flippping about the gist on PS6 video games. The thrills of magazine publishing had become especially addictive to the crowd of 30 and under. Each page of the magazine contained a digitized commercial filled with gun noises, growling narration and brutal back-and-forth slobberknocking, the fruits of video game advertising. By this era of V.G.s, the PS6 had enabled fighting game engines in which you could literally knock the stuffing out of an opponent as long as you and he shared a phone line. Laws of using the PS6 had mentioned clearly that it was the players' responsibility whenever someone had a broken arm during the midst of such virtual play. In one word, wicked. 

Susie read about cute household pets, and loved watching cute kitty cats and grunting hedgehogs skitter about 2-D floors of gravel. She reached out her hand on the corner of one page, and the kitties and hedgehogs all began scurrying towards her hand in the hopes of being comforted. Susie made it well-known to her family that upon ownership of a house she'd be womankind's Noah, keeping two of every pet and letting their cute little selves roaming nicely. And if she ever got a million bucks, she'd hire Henry to be the household janitor.

Last but not least, Jarvis was reading about the latest stars of "Raw Is Wan", a magazine biting against the currently desperate wrestling show, WWE "Raw is War". The show had long fallen to rating numbers compared to his promotion's fast-rising hit, CCW "Extremity", which gained a high interest thanks to tapping plenty of talent from audience members (a concept which, by the by, was inspired by Takato's stint in the ring). "Raw is War" was now coming up with a story about HTA, Hot Transvestite Action, and the crowd interest noticeably was the opposite of high. Every page that featured clips from a match, loud voices coming from beyond the ring rang, "Bullshit! Bullshit!"

"With language like that, I'm wondering how this magazine got to this hospital in the first place," Jarvis pondered. "Hmm," he shrugged his shoulders and inserted the mag back to an angular plastic shelf. Normally, Jarvis would try and get his reading skills furnished via another edition of "Voluptuous Vixens", but he was afraid the moans from the digitized women may compel him to squeeze his midsection from growing as hard as a sequoia. 

"Takato, my bro, we were getting worried about you, thought you had to go under the knife," Henry spoke as he hugged Takato, even taking the liberty to ruffle the mushroom-top hair formed by laying down for a while.

"Ah, quit feeling sorry, Henry, stop acting like we're that close," Takato whacked Henry's arm off his hair, though never offensively.

"Hewwo, Takato!" Susie kissed the pretty animals in the magazine good-bye and closed it gently. She jumped onto her brother's front.

"Hello, Susie. How many boo-boos you got?"

Susie's index finger was expert at pointing. "Well, there's one here in the leg and here in the arms, and here in the other leg. Look everyone, bandages all over. I'm a mummy!" Not exactly was Shuichon a mummy, but her bandages weren't the tiny over-the-counter cheapies a kid could purchase with lunch money. They were sizeable straps, making her resemble to Takato and Jarvis as more like a prize fighter....or do you call her prize fightress? They didn't know grammar too well. 

"Now now, Susie," Henry chided. "We don't want to make a big deal out of mommies right now. It's a good thing Dad won't talk about this to Mom. I sure hope Terriermon doesn't."

"Hey," Takato began. "That reminds me. Where's the little fella been roving to?"

"Nowhere," replied Jarvis nonchalantly. "Come on kids, let's go. I see Janyuu's given Taka a yellow receipt. Must be for that one-day tux, ain't it, Taka?" 

"I don't know...I don't remember whether it was a casual event or not."

"Casual smasual, Taka. Play it safe, unlike me. Go for the tux, have yourselves a little din din, and maybe Nami'll like a piece of your salami-OW! Hey, what the!"

Henry had laid a powerful palm against Jarvis' shoulder. His face was bent towards chiding. "Jarvis, this isn't time to think about...it, especially in front of...the kids."

"Hey, you calling me a kid again, Henry?!" Susie bellowed. "I'm not a kid! I've seen not so kiddy stuff, you know!"

"Yeah," Henry chuckled, "that's true, if wrestling shows and car chases qualify as not kiddy stuff."

"Guys, guys, can we just go?"

"Sure, Taka, just one teeny minute," Janyuu rose up an index finger to fingerspell the number one. Jarvis walked over to a finely lit hallway leading up to a day care center, where children were frolicking over a quaking doll that curiously stood by the corner. Being a digital being in the flesh, Jarvis merely entered himself through the computer-activated lock and noticed the doll sprawling right in front of him. The children had left all other toys unattended for back at their plastic benches, for they were now in favor of the living, breathing toy whom Jarvis had imprisoned by them. Jarvis smiled a wicked set of gleaming teeth. "Okay, Terriermon. How's it feel?"

"Like revisiting my childhood a hundred times an hour. GASP, GASP! They're killing me, Jarvis, all of them want to hug me every single hour. Please, please, PLEASE pull me out! I can't take it any more!"

Jarvis began watching his left and his right to catch sight of the whippersnappers, recognizing a familiar aura hanging around this room. An aura of children sending toys rollicking across their permitted vicinity, an aura smelling of candies and other sweet laurels to savor. Ultimately, he came up to a conclusion. He spoke like an employer who was very jaded with his choice of laborers. "Your request has been...denied."

"WHAT?! What you mean, denied?!"

Jarvis pouted his lip several times as if in sympathy of someone, then smiled again in his irritating show of bright teeth. "Think about the children, Terriermon. They're all laughing, smiling, and their parents will feel this day care center's been so wonderful once you came here. I feel we should extend your prison term another day. Like I said, think about the children!"

Terriermon's flabby ears shot up in such a degree of astonishment that now he looked like a vulgar rabbit. "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THINKING ABOUT ME?!"

"We're giving you a vacation from such thought. Think too much, and your brains will scramble. Later," and with that, Jarvis dashed out of the computer-coded door, which had been child-proof enough to be Terriermon-proof.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" Before Terriermon can leap onto the door, Jarvis swung his way through it and Terriermon went splat to the door, smearing sweat against the plexi-glass and down to his imminent doom. Upon the digimon's bad date with the door, screaming little tykes scavenged across the floor for their sole prey. At least Terriermon was too dazed to know what torture they were venturing to wreak.

"Okay, Taka," Jarvis held up both Susie and Henry off the benches, "let's head over to your tux shop and fit you up."

Takato despised casual wear. "I didn't remember being tagged along for this date...."

"Better you need that than not, Takato," said Henry. "Those Crazers probably won't back off from another fight, so we'll have to protect you."

"Maybe you should be protecting yourself. Last time I remember, all of you fell down a ditch."

"Yeah, trying to save you. Please don't get knocked off your socks again, Taka. I think it did injustice to my hair." Jarvis pointed at his ruffled tresses, which had been contorted asunder into jagged spirals. His hands seemed to deliberately swirl the hair even more pointlessly so, until he yelled, "Reset!" Upon Jarvis' bidding, his tresses were back to their normal light curves.

"You can do that?" Takato's jaw collapsed right below his Adam's Apple. His sister Susie closed it shut tight before she can catch whatever unbrushed spinach was stuck between his molars.

"Digital makeover. I'm technically a program, you know. Programs get reboots."

"That's not fair, Jarvis!" Takato frowned. "Now I feel like a total loser over here!"

To Be Continued....

I took a month vacation from true-blue writing, so here's the return of "Takato Wong", amigos! Tajeri Lynn will continue through as he has college to fulfill and friends to consort with. I've also been posting reviews on wrestling videos, particularly ECW. If you want to check out the best of ECW on VHS, check out www.geocities.com/anarchydroolz/ECW_Home_Video.htm for some great, great suggestions.


	8. Recipe for Disaster

A/N: This is Tajeri Lynn back at you with some more super action on "Takato Wong", the epic Tamers AU fanfic! Before I do, let the luchadore rummage through his fanmail.

Geez, only one. Tough homework these days....

To SerpentTreize; Ohhhh yeah, Jarvis is a slickster on many platforms. Jarvis is based on Joe (the season 2 Joe, who nearly looks like me), and it's always within Tajeri's imagination that such a nice, quiet-looking nerd would actually be less so introverted in another world; thus, Jarvis is born. Being that he's really an OOC Joe Kido, I just capitalize on the smarmy attacks he poses which absolutely conflict with our expected viewpoints of nerds. I think he'd really speak a line such as this one by wrestler/commentator Jerry "King" Lawler...

"Of course I support women's rights. I support their lefts, their fronts, their backs...."

Speaking of wrestling, UPN's Smackdown delivered THE most awesome TV match in its history; the Edge/Eddie Guerrero finale! What they did with the ladders was the stuff of legends; hats off to this show. Raw sux ****!

Terriermon is just the sacrifical lamb, a common device in any story. There's always at least one hero in my tales who's got himself a clause stating that his amount of comedic torture is without competition.

Terriermon: You're crazy! Torturing me like that! Does anybody have feelings for me?!

Susie: I do, Tewwiamon! You got a boo-boo? Lemme make you into a mummy! Hee hee!

Terriermon: AAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!

Sure, everybody's got feelings for Terriermon.....But next time he oughta be more specific.....

Well, onto the next phase of the show. Watch yerself, this is a biggie!

Takato Wong

Phase H: Recipe for Disaster

"You sure about this, Jarvis? Leaving Terriermon there to suffer like that?"

"If you don't quit talking like that, Taka, 'Sure' is bound to be your middle name. Course I'm sure. It's high time the little doggie gets some discipline."

"Susie, how is it without poor ole 'Tewwiamon'?"

"It feels kind of lonely, but Jarvis promises to take me and Henwy to the Shoma Cafe! He says it's all on him. We gonna get our din-din there. Yee-hee!"

"WHAT!?! At what point of the day do I get to spend my time alone?" Takato pouted.

"Hey, girly boy, if you want to be alone, bring some bulletproof armor while at it. You'll last longer."

"Gee, that's very nice of you Jarvis, especially coming from someone who lost his tag titles to me!"

"Aye, aye, aye, don't poke me like I'm the weaker one. Anyways, you got the pin on my buddy Katch, not me. You still haven't got the 1-2-3 on me, you know, and I fully intend to keep it that way."

"Not that you could do that, Takato. You've got a date with Nami Asaji. The last thing you better do is get the tuxedo ruffled," Henry informed his stepbrother. "That could be a bad manner of etiquette.

"Yeah, you're right. Well, here goes nothing."

"By the way, Taka. You should know this one thing about Asaji; she doesn't like it when people are late. Back at Hypnos, she'd actually snap at latecomers that they were going to detention…as if they really were."

"What time is it right now?"

"Um, it's….7:55?"

"Argh, me and my doofus driving skills! All that time to get to the Tux shop and I could've used that time to figure out where Shoma Café was. Asaji's going to explode!"

"Like popcorn? Not if I can help it. Get in the car, everyone."

"You know a shortcut here."

"Hate to sound like a broken record, but I'm a powerful digital being? I can teleport us and the dang vehicle to the bistro." 

"Really? That's cool! You're going to rescue me!....So is there a catch?"

"I need ten dollars, Taka. Henry's been covered, but Susie needs to eat as well."

"Yeah! Dumplings and candied bananas for me, that's for sho!"

"And you said it was all on you, Jarvis! Ah never mind, not like I spend much out of what I earn."

************************************************************************

CRASH! The minivan tumbled with its wheels squishing and retracting like silly putty. The gang realized this was how it must feel when an ant colony was dug out of its garden habitat.

"Frag! Gotta work on my aim next time."

"You can say that again, Jarvis!" exclaimed Henry, who sweated in pints. "The whole ride left me sweatier than Sex Flags Magic Mountain!"

"You're quite an act, Henry. Teleportation's worth twice the thrills of the 60-foot Hunka-Chunka coaster! Man, would I like to get on one in the near future. Taka?"

"Huh?" Takato's legs were twitching and his sneakers were thus bonking at the driver's side window.

"Come on, Taka. I'm sorry about landing us like that, but don't go head over heels just yet. Ms. Asaji's waiting."

"And so are candied bananas, yay!" Susie raised up a triumphant fist.

***************************************************************************************************************************

The restaurant was quite a beaut. Columns of white marble stone towered between the unending eating compartments fit for a whole city to savor. It stood on two different floors and was interconnected by two transparent elevator shafts. Naturally, the gang took the lower floor, where Asaji waited for Takato. She had come prepared well enough. In a billowing scarlet red dress, Takato really wondered if this was just a school teacher or this was Karen McDougal. 

"Hello, Takato. You sure've grown up on a lot of places, I mean, you're grown up through a lot of places."

"Yeah, thin and thick, thick and thin, kinda like ice cream topped with strawberry syrup," Takato snapped his fingers, though it took him five times to get the audible snap going.

"Mmm, cute similie you got there. And I thought you learned nothing out of grammar class."

"Oh sure, I learned a lot, Asaji. It's just that, well, you weren't that much fun to be around with."

"Well, good thing, school's out. It's time for another side of learning!"

"Nice, I think this is what you call chiiiiiic!" Takato smiled his confident teeth as he and Asaji casually strode their way through a nonchalant waiter's direction.

Jarvis slapped his face, hearing the abominable remark from the 20-year old. "And I thought Terriermon sounded painful!"

"Real mature workmanship, Takato," frowned Henry. "If that's his way of sounding sleek, let's hope he never sounds like a geek."

"Nice rhyme there."

"Your welcome."

The teenage waiteress stood with pen at hand over a huge volume over a post. "Good evening sir, did you reserve?"

"Ah yeah, Thatch, T-H-A-T-C-H, me and two guests. No smoking, please," Jarvis smiled.

"Thatch, Jarvis….Right this way." And with that, the waitress and the three customers went up the elevator towards the second floor, where there laid a pond of koi fish and herbal gardens.

"Hadn't known you hated smoking areas, Jarvis," Henry stared at the digital being.

Susie stretched her arms out to relax herself and hopefully increase the appetite for the free dinner. "What would you mean, Henwy? Is there something about smoking that you haven't told mom and dad, or for the matter me?"

"No, no, it's not that Susie, it's just that-"

Jarvis grabbed a nearby cloth from another table and wore it on like a bandana, before returning attention to the juniors."Hey, you're still kiddoes, right? Better stay away from that crap. Tobacco gets your face all crinkly. And if your face gets all crinkly, say good-bye to your dating opportunities."

The waitress turned back to her customers as she stopped at a table right at the corner. "Three menus?"

Jarvis removed the bandana immediately and stuffed it in his pocket. "Sure, of course, thank you."

"Are you always being nice to waitresses because they look like hotties?"

"Oh come what now, Henry. Most waitresses in this restaurant just don't fit my style. Like that waitress far off in the corner. Sometimes she thinks I sound sexist and all. I just want her to have a good time on a Saturday night."

Henry eyed the girl oddly. Her hair resembled an onion with wild shoots laying astray. "Her? HER!?!"

Jarvis frowned. "Henry, don't leave me out in the open. What is?"

Susie was given a glass of water by the waitress, but she refused to touch it for meal's sake. "That's Takato's usual date, Jarvis. Her name's Rika! She's a pretty, isn't she? I like her name, it's pretty."

"Whoa, help me get this clear. Rika is Taka's girlfriend? And she's steady with him? She doesn't know about the date, does she?"

Henry dropped his hands. "Yes, yes and yes! Rika ain't easy to stand for reason, even if it comes out of Takato's mouth."

"Man, Taka's in big doo doo unless we get help around somewhere along the way."

A rustle came out of the catnip bush right above the suspended lamp. A horned face popped out. "Hello, everyone. Having a shindig without me?"

Henry took out a fork and threatened to jab at the digimon should he come closer. "Terriermon, you dastardly rabbit! How exactly did you flee purgatory?"

Terriermon held his elbows together. "Since you denied yourself the right to watch over me, thou shalt never know the tale of my great escape. Sucks to you. Thbbffft!"

"Maybe we oughta rip your stuffing out for Thanksgiving!" Henry began unwinding the sleeves off his lithe arms. Henry had conditioned himself close to two decades in order to perfect his mastery of tai chi. Tai chi usually was meant for defense, unless someone offended him...

Jarvis slapped a stiff palm across Henry's shoulders. "Nah, wait, Henry, cool it, I think we should keep the little fella."

Susie got too thirsy, so she took a dab of water from the glass. She waved at her digimon pally, and looked towards her brother. "Yeah, Henry, cool down your temper. Isn't Terriermon supposed to be our very best friend? And more so, he never even got any din-din, poor Terriermon. He must have an empty stomach."

Henry closed his eyes in disapproval. "So give him to me, I'll empty his appetite ."

"Trying to go criminal on me again, huh, Henry?! Do you know what those kindergarteners tried to feed me back there, huh?! Kids at that age can't tell the difference between what's a hors de ouevre and what's playdoh!!! I suppose you can't get that through your sex-filled head!"

Jarvis chuckled loudly and clapped both hands in bravado. "So you've tasted playdoh, eh, Terriermon? Good. Thanks for reporting the findings for all of us. Your sacrifice has been saluted. You're our hero of the week. Wished I bought a medal for you."

"And you! Jarvis! You had no right to lock me up at that day-care center, only my tamer does! Hmmph!"

"Ttttttruuuue, except your sagely tamer here threatened to sign you up for Tai Chi 300A. It was either that or the prison term. And believe me, Terriermon, you were signed up to be a punching bag. So call my services to you an act of goodwill, will you?"

"Oh, yeah? If you think I'm a big, er, little weakling, then come on and fight me like a man!" Terriermon jumped down to the table, pacing up and down like a shoot fighter, or for that matter, a weird kangaroo.

"I'll fight like a man, but man against. mon? I don't like those odds, and frankly, neither should you."

"Uh, Jarvis? Little help?" Hearing his moniker, Jarvis turned to Henry, whose gray eyes showed a tinge of panic as an index finger turned towards Rika.

"You know what, Terriermon? You can sit down with us and treat yourself to a free meal. S'all on me," Jarvis scooted back to the center of the plush seating, allowing a convenient eating space."

"Thanks a lot. And if it's all on me, I'll make the most of it. I'd like to try the Shoma Appetizer! Along with some zucchini, clam chowder and a super side order of......hey, waaaaiiiit a minute. Something stinks around here."

Jarvis smiled. Terriermon was ever the conspiracy theorist. "Not to you, but to Taka, for sure. You see, Terriermon, we've got a reeeally critical situation, the kind in which the whole fate of the world revolves around Taka. So get this; Takato's got a girlfriend named Rika and it looks they've been together for a long time, but now-"

"Cheater!" Terriermon impulsively pointed an accusing finger at Henry, "trying to get a piece of Rika's pie, aren't you!?" who on red-headed impulse drove a balled up knuckle down onto the digimon as if whacking a mole. The digimon saw a flash of white intrude on his vision, and he laid limp as a doll.

"Here, Susie, take Tewwiarmon with you, just the way you always loved him. It'll feel just like old times."

Susie helplessly held the unconscious digimon in her grasps. She rocked him about to wake him up, and to no avial. "Henwy, that's so mean!"

Jarvis dropped his jaw. "And unjust! Damnit, Henry, we were supposed to use Terriermon to distract Rika away from Takato! I just can't meet and greet the witch face to face! For all I know, she may have Dracula for a lawyer!"

"Alright, whiner! Gosh, do I have to play the leader all the time or what!" shouted Henry, who skidded his seat. "Just let the waitress know that I asked for sashimi and takoyaki, you got that?"

"Sure, Henry. But what are you gonna do with Rika, huh? You're already a set man with Jeri Katou. You try and make advances on Rika...."

"Jarvis, calm down and breathe a sigh of relief. This is my brother's future and it's my right to handle it for him. I mean, who knows Rika better than I?"  


"Um, Takato?" Susie rose her hand.

"Clever comment, Susie, but you've still got a lot to learn. Watch the master and someday you'll be one too."

Henry leaves. 

"Good luck trying to learn, Susie. Your bro's turned a right angle to Rika, no chance for us to see him. Well, least she's not reaching Takato. Let's see what kind of food they got pictured here in the menu. I better get something before the waitress comes."

"Hmm, big-know-it-all Henry!" A dissed Susie held her elbows akimbo. "He hardly ever listens to me!"

"What d'you just say, kiddo?"

***************************************************************************************************************************

"So you want the Chef's special? Vermont Curry with Rice?" The elegant, wiry-moustached waiter queried in a pseudo-French accent while jotting a pen on an everyday notepad.

"Yeah, and uh, could I have brown rice?" Heard it's packed with more nutrients," Takato spoke rapidly. For five straight hours, hunger was driving him half-mad. 

"As you wish, sir, brown rice it is. And your mother will want...?"

Takato slapped his face, groaning like someone just punched his stomach. Asaji giggled heartily at the remark and clapped her hands, before clearing up the chortles and telling the waiter...

"I would like the Orange Chicken with peanut salad."

"Alright. Your meals will be prepared on the double."

Waiter leaves.

"Ah, man, Asaji, did you have to go with the whole mother thing? That makes me feel like a boy!"

"That's because you are a boy, Takato, just a little more on the mature and muscular side."

Takato blushes deeply.

"Are you blushing?"

"Um, no, I'm not. It's just that... drinking the water's making my cheeks feel hot. I could swear something nasty's in my water. An impurity, yeah, that's it. Um, waiter, waiter, I think there's something-"

"Now don't be so silly, Takato. I know how you fake things ever since you claimed your father ate your homework. Besides, those waiters are going to take forever to come back. Here, Takato, you can drink my glass of water. You can drink on this side, it's clean."

Takato stared at the glass for a while, before conceding to her. "You know, Asaji, to be honest with you-"

"Still learning to be honest, Takato?"

"Er, yeah, you got the $20 million question correct. You're pretty smart."

"Pretty AND smart is the equation. I am your teacher, or was that a lesson you forgot?"

"I didn't forget that, but you're not my teacher anymore. You're now my assistant."

"That doesn't mean we can't learn from each other, does it, Takato Matsuda?

"No...it doesn't. I mean, that's kind of cool. You and me, trying to save the Digital World... Now you could join in on the adventure."

"I'm not the adventure type, Mr. Matsuda. I never was."

"Well, sooner or later we'll all change our colors...And um, by the way, Asaji, it's Takato Wong, not Matsuda."

"Wong, as in Janyuu Wong? Why?"

"My parents died....The big quake about 10 years ago....Janyuu's my father for about that much time."

"Oh, my...Sorry to hear that. Had I known..."

"Don't drag yourself into it, Asaji. It was so long ago, the pain feels less as the days go by."

"You miss them? Your parents, I mean."

"Oh, yeah, I do, but I know somewhere they'll be waiting, Asaji, so when I have to go, I know they'll be there to see me. No big deal."

"You're not that much of a boy, Takato. You're very mature."

"Hey, life's worth learning, you might say."

"Well said, Takato. Guess my philosophy class did smarten you up."

"Nah, I'd personally credit that to DC Comics."

"Ahem, your dinners," the maitre'd approached the two with their plates.

***************************************************************************************************************************

"Hey, Rika, your break time's on. Five minutes!" A waiter stretched out all five fingers at her.

"Well, it's about damn time!" Rika jumped out the cafe door, throwing her messy shadow-black apron out into a basket. She kicked the door with a blinding jerk of a reflex that had the door creaking whinily. She sat by the stairway, massaging her arms by cuffing her hands and squeezing the despairing flesh that worked for minimum wage. And she still hadn't the time to complete her thousand-word essays due the day after tommorow. "Urrrrrrr! F*ck, f*ck, Fu-"

She turned and saw Henry who had just pursued her out the door. She gasped and looked down. "I wasn't talking about you."

"Well thank god you weren't," Henry patted his chest. "I thought I was about to have one less friend to cry on my shoulder."

"Hey, I'm not a crybaby, Henry," Rika narrowed her eyes. "Unlike everybody else prowling in there! All they just do is bitch and moan, and the stupid manager can't even realize they spill food on me, not me spilling food on them. Might as well next time!"

"Uh, you better not do that, Rika, that wouldn't be too sensible."

"And they aren't?..." Rika stared blankly at the moon, then reality hit her. "What are you doing in the restaurant anyway?"

"A friend of mine brought me and Susie to the restaurant. Said it was all on him."

"Takato?"

"NO!" Henry stood upright at hearing the word. His mind had awkwardly strayed from the plan. No need to give hints on Takato's appearance. "Um, well, no, of course not. I mean, if he was, I don't think the meal could've been free at all. You know Takato."

"I sure do. He must have some formula for keeping him thin from those pastries...." Rika smiled.

"Yeah, sure, secret formula....Um, look, Rika, it wouldn't hurt if you come over and serve at my table. I'm sure we haven't quite decided on our meals yet, but I don't know how long they'll be kept waiting."

"Well, okay, Henry. Naturally, going back to work would be a return trip to hell, but at least there's sensible old you around."

"That's good to hear, Rika. Come on, let's go back inside and-unf!" Henry's orange jacket got tugged by the helm from a sturdy, feminine hand.

"Henry, in case you didn't notice, I've got a minute left in my break! Dang, you trying to ask me out on a date or what?!"

***************************************************************************************************************************

Passing the boulevard running through Shoma Cafe, Janyuu was driving solo in his shadow blue minivan, a similar model to his stalwart Takato's, only that it came equipped with a digitized screen 4-inches thick. Also attatched was a dialing periphery the good doctor had held up to his chin while he continued covering the miles back home.

"I hope she won't start in a fit." Janyuu sighed loudly before the screen emitted a live video stream of his beloved wife, whose messy apron suggested she had wooped up some gruel at their A.P.T. Gratefully, she was in no mood for a fit.

"Janyuu, honey! Where have you been? The sweet and sours have grown cold for about an hour. Doesn't Hypnos close 4pm on Saturdays?"

"Sorry, dear, but Hypnos ran into a slight detour of sorts. Reika and I sorted it all out in due time."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. For a moment there, I thought you were inviting some friends over to the Shoma Cafe."

"Funny that you say that. Takato's having a date with an old friend right at the cafe. Should make an interesting conversation for breakfast."

"I believe it will. Did Takato say anything about Susie and Henry?"

"Why, they're not back home?"

"Doesn't seem so, and they took Terriermon with them too. I'm so lonely it feels like I'm the only person left on the face of the planet."

"Takato's quite a social fellow, though with him having a date, I wouldn't bet all the money in the world. Maybe I could call Susie, I have her cell phone number and she's always waiting for a call. Shouldn't take too long."

"Okay, honey. But do come by for dinner."

"Sure I will, dear. There's nothing like food cooked from the heart."

"Bye, Janyuu."

"Bye," and with that, Janyuu quietly pushed a button for a hang up. As a stop light began, Janyuu stopped the vehicle and quickly fished a callous hand through the boxes of paperwork in search of a crinkly sheet of notebook paper etched on its surfaces with fluorescent pink writing. "Sigh. All the code numbers in the world and I can't remember my own daughter's."

***************************************************************************************************************************

The Shoma Cafe remained bustling while droves of palm trees encircled the bistro. But out of the shadows, a group of ruffled youths, the Crazers, climbed down the trees and eyed the windows closely. One of them, bearing a ton of bandages across his face, growled and pointed at one particular window, staring at apparently no one among the bushes.

"That's him! He's called Takato, boss! He's the sonuvabitch who f*cked me back at the damn park! Kick his a$$, will ya?!"

A large, direct voice of monstrosity scared the hell out of all the Crazers. "Now let's not move to shallow conclusions, Mark.... Takato is but a boy, as far as I could tell. What reason should I have to expend MY own energy against him? Hmm..?"

"I....I don't know....B-but you can't let him get away with what he's done! It's vengeance!"

"Yeah, vengeance rules and justice drools!" the Crazers raised up their hands in unison, but a long red whip lashed over their heads. The Crazers crouched down to the concrete floor, bodies shivering at their master.

"I'm in no need of vengeance!" the master spoke. "What I want is dominance, and dominance will serve enough to destroy a whole rove of boys, for all I care! If you really want to enter the Digital World, then stop favoring your own agendas and waste my priceless time!.....Wait....Well, well...I'm sensing a most familiar reading around here."

"The boy?" Mark questioned, and he got a gloved slap to the face that tumbled him like a boulder before the other minions, who darted away steadfast. 

"Silence!" the master rubbed his face relievingly. " I'll grow sick everytime you talk of him! No, it's somebody else, coming closer here.....Hmm, he is of immense value to this quest. Converge on him, and you will prove yourselves worthy of joining the cause!"

"Yes, master!"

***************************************************************************************************************************

Riiiing!

"I've got it! I've got it!" Nearly tipping over the salt and pepper shakers from her exuberance, Susie grabbed a cell phone out of her pretty pink synthetic purse, the same purse where her beloved and comatose friend "Tewwiamon" was being stored in to receive his direly needed bearings. Susie held up her laminated menu and began. "Hewwo out there!"

"Susie?"

"Hewwo, daddy? Thanks for not telling mommy about us."

"Um, I'm not back home yet, sweetie, I'm just about to. Where are you right now?"

"At the Shoma Cafe. Me and Henry are getting free dinners, all thanks to Jarvis!"

"Wow, I never knew he was that hospitable!"

"Say what?!" Jarvis dropped the menu and held his hand on Susie's cell phone. "Scuse me, may I borrow this, thank you!" Susie unwillingly gave the phone to Jarvis who banged it onto his ears in half a second. Waves of his blue hair provided a private canopy over the said object. "Hey, Janyuu, I'm a supreme digital being, doi! How can I NOT be charitable AND supreme all at once?"

"Okay, Jarvis," Janyuu's voice was unmistakably reeking of irritance. "It was my mistake, my....bad, that's what you call it?"

"Yup, your bad, your bad!" Jarvis then handed the phone over to Susie. "Good for you, kiddo, you get to have some free dessert."

"Yay, now I'm getting free dessert, isn't that nice, daddy?" Susie beamed towards the phone.

"Yes, I know. Jarvis will be the next president of UNICEF if he wants to.... Now, Susie, is Takato driving you back home, because I don't know when you're all coming back."

"Oh, no worry about that. We went on a car and Jarvis teleported us over here."

"He did what?! He's not supposed to reveal himself in that fashion!"

Like a one-man bullet train, Jarvis sped his mouth into the cell phone, with Susie just barely above to remove her face inches away from collision. "Don't be such a worrywort, Janyuu," Jarvis lent more of his smart talk over the phone. "Long as nobody sees us, it ain't revealing. Kinda like the whole 'nobody hears so does it exist?' kind of thingy."

"Get Susie back on the phone, Jarvis, or next time I'll delete you," Jarvis muttered sarcastically.

Mouth wide agape, Jarvis slowly gave the phone back to Susie. "Your pop's quite a motivational speaker."

Jarvis' intution told him she was on. "Susie, just call me again and I'll drive you back home. I'm allowing Takato to spend the night out somewhere else if needs be, but you and Henry should best be back home before midnight. You know how your mom reacts when you're not getting your beauty sleep."

"You're right, and I'll be missing Lopmon dancing in my dreams. Awright, daddy, I'll see you then."

"Bye, dear," and with that, Janyuu hung up.

To Be Continued.... (End of Sneak Preview)


	9. Evil, Version 2

Takato Wong

Phase H: Evil, Version 2.0

From the second floor of the Shoma Café, Takato was out staring through the curtains covering the glass windows. These curtains tended to collectively display a digital image of a waterfall, to captivate the customers in a rural Asian setting of old, but Takato was too mindful of technology to not conform to such false nature. Nami was out apparently with the assumption that something got on her ruby dress, and Takato didn't mind; women were synonymous with cleanliness….weren't they? Magenta eyes through the glass, he looked down from hundreds of feet away, where a lonesome minivan, resembling quite a lot like his father Janyuu's, made its way across the shiny granite as several passerbys of the road walked their way to the flimsy meadows.

Takato frowned as he stared dead-center at those passerbys. Crazers, they had to have been. Your typical spawn of anti-socials and misfits enacting in their own fantasy world and then utilizing it incompatibly against the illusory norms of the city. Takato knew such especially by their leader, a mighty giant man hidden by shadows, and by his shape he was forgetting that Halloween was 6 months away, _or_ 6 months from now…. Actually having mastered the runes of mathematics by the final years of high school (for once), Takato can perceive the ringleader to be almost 7, 8 feet tall….Henry had once told Takato that most people in Shinjuku tend to be short thanks to the Asian dieting scheme, one not too familiar with the proteins and the like that set forth the taller, heavier Westerners. But this individual Takato was staring at could defy world records, and just maybe garner an attention that would be less harmful compared to what he and his dusky allies were concocting at the moment. The Crazers were trodding in the direction of the café. Well, as the maître d would be saying, rough and dirty isn't service-worthy.

"Problems, Takato?" Asaji's voice led the boy's view back out of the windows.

Takato dropped a blind and let it drop, concealing the outside world completely in illusion once again. "Just hoping my dad would be okay. He's taking it hard."

"Hard? Family? Money?….Oh, I'm sorry there, Takato. I'm pushing it."

"It's none of that, really….But remember how Janyuu tends to see things before they come? Well, he hasn't really…."

"What's….going on? You're so worked up, Takato, relax."

"Yeah, yeah…I should relax. We shouldn't be worried about that. There's more important stuff we've got to think over for the moment."

"And that would be….?"

"Uh, dessert!" Takato popped up, albeit in a disturbingly lithe manner. "The waiter must've forgotten our order, she's taking an awfully long time."

SHHHHHOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

KKKKTTTAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

With those noises cutting through the elitist music and serene drip-drops of water fountains, the Shoma Cuisine shook its foundations in an panicked frenzy, an expression quickly shared by a crowd of screaming customers dashing their way down the stairs and elevators. Tables collapsed like ghosts had punched through them, and the jade fountains cracked, gushing springs of water across the marble floors.

SHHHHHOOOOOOOOOMMMM!!!

KKKKTTTAAAASSSSSHHHHHHHH!!!

Another rumble shook, showering the finished platters and tablecloth over Takato Wong. Takato grumbled as if trouble kept knocking by his door while red-hot fingers threw the tablecloth off his face. His magenta eyes and jaw went wide as he barely glimpsed a couple of well-dressed eaters collapse a stairway that crumbled down the first floor in a volatile cloud of smoke. The collapse of wood and the silenced screams were the evidence of the worst. Before Asaji could speak something in reference to someone above, the smoke flew across the rooms and shadows became discernable.

***********************************************************************************************

"What the hell?!" screamed Henry as Shoma's cooks nearly trampled him over, ash having festered on their beautiful aprons. The cooks' only thoughts for the present were of escape from the new breeding nest of insanity. One accidentally kicked Rika's apron-less back with a hard shoe, and the young Nonaka angrily retaliated by kicking his feet off the ground and pulling his collar, almost tearing the fabric off in her knuckles, in fact.

"What happenned, the kitchen went off?!" Rika questioned to the cook, actually more like yelled, which one could tell by Henry shutting both his ears.

"It wasn't us! There were these weird-looking freaks and they suddenly had these explosions with them, I don't know. Just let me go, I'm just a part-timer!"

Henry gasped incredulously. "Crazers?! Of all the wonderful places where they could make a statement....!"

Rika threw down the cook in her grasps and didn't care that he was leaving on all fours. "I hope you brought Terriermon with you, Henry. We can't stop them so easily," she urged urgently.

"For once, I'm glad he's with me," Henry spoke as he pulled up the Digivice from his black jeans. "Gotta get in the restaurant, though. Terriermon's still inside-OH!"

"Come on! There's a few fire escapes those bonehead cooks forgot all about!" Rika breathlessly dragged the blue-haired Jenrya into one of them, whipping off the smoke as they went in. "I'll try to get the people escaping, there's not much else I can do."

"Do that. I'll get the Crazers thinking twice about being crazy."

*********************************************************************************************** 

Takato saw the shadow coming closer to him, and like subservient members to the shadow, the dust gave way to make the being less conspicuous. He gasped as he realized this was the same exact man, the same exact giant who was leading those Crazers! The giant was a blondie, but he also donned a dull red mask concealing his true face, giving way to immutable green eyes. He wore a huge suit that almost made him seem to be wearing a portion of the darkest ocean as it waved about in bizarre aggression, a blackish blue that at first resembled nightmarish waves, but quite clearly were inspired by the frightening wings of a maximized bat. The man stared down in a disappointed frown over the mystified Takato, staring over to a corner with his Crazers following.

"He's not here! Keep your eyes on watch."

"Yeah, right," muttered one Crazer, "like we can see through your sturm und drang."

"Hey, boss! Myotismon! There's the Takato boy!"

"Idiot!" Myotismon whipped his neon red whip, snaking it so it exploded a table to splinters. A few customers whimpered, their feet shivering but glued right to the floor in irremovable fear. "I've no time to mess with boys! Speak once more and-"

"But boss, didn't you see the photos in the minivan?! That loser by the table, he's Takato WONG. He's a son of the man we're after!"

"Janyuu?!" Takato whispered to himself, his face now paling in fright. "Oh, why would they want you?"

Like a hungry boa from an unseen tree, the whip latched itself around Takato's leg, its lazer emittance corroding through Takato's Italian-made rental. The boy screamed in agony as he was flung closer to Myotismon, laying down before the giant on one wounded knee, which Takato squeezed, fighting back tears of pain.

"TAKATO!" yelled Asaji, who leapt up until her face stared at two Crazers' giant arms, metal guns with holes pointing at her and coughing the arid stench of gunpowder to threaten her to not tread an inch. She backed up to the table where the date had been proceeding.

Myotismon bared shiny white fangs in satisfaction over the apparent consolation prize. "So, you are the son of the man we seek! Well done, Marc, you truly had an eye out for this mission!" Myotismon haughtily raised the boy up by his burning leg. Shaking his hands as if hopes of whipping one over the vampire wannabe, Takato whimpered as the bruise received a most malicious pressure, causing him to writhe further, like a prey caught fresh from a cruel trap. Myotismon raised the whip once more so Takato can see it clearly. "Better for you to take it like a man, Takato, if you want to leave this restaurant ever again!" Myotismon urged, a voice of strange reason emanating from him.

Despite his upside-down state hindering his endurance, Takato decided to suck it up. The best way was by talking it over. "What do you....want with my dad? He doesn't want to stop you Crazers," he spoke through teeth gritted in pain.

"Indeed he wouldn't," Myotismon smiled, and then he called over the restaurant and scared the customers again by roaring. "JANYUU WONG! Surely you see now it is useless! For now I have your son, your 'Takato' in my grasps! Join me and the Crazers to the Digital World. Henceforth, your son will be spared. Don't try and prolong an escape at the expense of who you hold dearly!"

The weeping and moaning from everyone BUT Janyuu Wong made the unsettled Crazers sick to the stomach, and they fired sparking bullets to the ceiling to shut them up, bits of masonry falling off and bonking some of their own heads. "Myotismon wants you, Janyuu!" They called out in precise unison, as if their minds were bent under Myotismon's influence alone. "We know you're here!" they said-sung.

The dust was still circulating in the room of nowhere, until a father's voice started clarifying. "Alright, Myotismon, you won. I will go." Janyuu slowly walked towards Myotismon, who was still holding the wounded Takato. "As long as you won't trouble these people, I will go..." Janyuu spoke, his eyes crossed towards the vampire, but only slightly due to the despair that he was forced by the lives of threatened, including his beloved stepson.

Takato was dropped to his knees and Asaji was permitted to grab ahold of him. Takato was too involved however to accept the hosptality. "Dad, what's going on?! What do you mean go to the Digital World? It's inoperable!"

Myotismon taunted a self-satisfied glare at Janyuu, almost beckoning the scientist to stareat his son and shake his head regretfully, his tone of voice still somber. "Takato, remember when I told you 80% of the Digital World was retreivable? I never told you about the remaining 20%. This digimon has the 20%."

"Oh my god," was all Asaji could say. Takato squeezed his eyes in enraged disbelief. The leader of the Crazers, the leader of the anarchists who strived for digital intervention on earth, was a digimon....

"Yes, and that is not all!" Myotismon spoke, clearing his throat in preparation of boasting his as-yet unspoken endeavor. "Come now, Janyuu. Don't regret losing your son for a few days, you'll rejoin him soon enough. Besides, while I was in pursuit of you, I picked up a good friend of yours. I think he's been feeling lonely right now."

"You kidnapped Yamaki!" Janyuu suddenly realized, as did Takato while Asaji lost words, having heard nothing of Yamaki's disappearance. "I can't believe all these years you plotted this!"

"Years?" Takato spoke baffled.

"Yamaki and I went long ways," Myotismon replied, "your friends at Hypnos knew all about me. But enough about me. This is all about me and daddy. Business is about to close. Crazers!" The final word spoken in urgency, the armed teenagers stormed around their tall master. Myotismon pointed to one. "Marc, take Takato to his new room for the time being."

"With pleasure," Marc grinned as he pointed his gun at the helpless Takato, cocking in fresh ammo and all.

  
"NO!" Janyuu cried as Myotismon laughed to the unseen ceiling.

"Gargo...Whatever!" came an exuberant cry as glowing screen sparks sent Marc's gun bursting into a fireball. Engulfed in the midst of mischieveous fire, the raggy Crazer screamed in pain as he scrambled over to the nearest fountain.

"What?!" Myotismon demanded, his group of gun-toting Crazers cocking their weaponries in unison to feign their bravery. But their bravery was as alive as the smoking guns they nursed in their arms.

"Let's play 'Lethal Enforcers'!" shouted a gargantuan, emerald-headed rabbit from out of the first floor, unleashing a pair of reloadable cannons for arms. Thus stood Gargomon, the evolved form of the dastardly rabbit Terriermon! "I've got two arms. Don't make me use them!"

"A digimon, here!?" Myotismon shouted, staring sideways to a smiling and confident Janyuu, who suddenly threw a metal box towards Takato's direction. 

Still on one knee, Takato grabbed the box and opened the lid, revealing a handle and a trigger on the bottom-most corner. Two Crazers pointed their guns at him but Takato fired, unleashing a nearly invisible wave of energy that defused the lights off the gun, the shining beam from Myotismon's whip and the lights of Shoma Cafe itself. The emergency lights of soft red now shone over the restaurant, red being a perfect color to fit the Crazers' tones, now that their toys were rendered useless, the triggers clicking but the fire missing, and they could just bitch and moan. But Myotismon's leadership called for an end to their uselessness. He sighed and put hands to his pants in utter wonderment at the limits these measley humans were acknowledging, limits he owned. He stared at the ground in slant eyes.

Myotismon paid no heed to the droves of customers making their way out to the scene. His men impulsively rose up their useless weapons but considering the number they had to threaten, that idea was thrown to the proverbial wastebasket. All that was left was still the primary quarry.

"You're twice as clever than the web would lead me to believe, Janyuu," Myotismon complemented, before raising his face up to Takato. "However, I am not limited to technology alone. As you can see, the EMP didn't even scratch my suit!"

"You're not a digimon! You couldn't be!" Janyuu seized a palm over his head, wondering what it took to nail a stake on this vampire.

"Ah, but I am, Janyuu. But since you refuse to come to the Digital World, I must up the ante!" Myotismon yelled as he thrust dual projectiles whizzing against clouds of dust intermingling with the sparse oxygen.

Takato rose up the EMP accelarator again but could hardly make of any circuitry involved. "Takato!" Asaji pulled the youth to the side. The gun was hooked in midair by one whistling metallic disk and cut in half, it burst into a cloud of its own, spiralling bits of shards into the signal Myotismon most desired for the cronies willing to serve as his subjects.

"I'll save-OOF!" Gargomon felt the other disk like a megaton fist to the cheek and his flying weight turned a single room into a safety hazard, food supplies tumbling into total wastes over him. He was lucky to be born a digimon. A disk of such velocity could've decapitated a human.

"Now is the time to even the field!" Myotismon called out to the Crazers, before thrusting a harsh fist to the concerned Janyuu, dragging his body effortlessly with his right. "Distract them while I open the barrier!" His vibrant cowl concealed both his and Janyuu's presence to the dust from the explosions sprouting from a few minutes ago.

"RAAAHHH!!!" Springing out of the renewed energy of one, the league of well over twenty rushed through, disabled weaponry abandoned once more in favor of the furious and indefinite brute of fists and feet.

"Pull me up, Asaji!" the incarcerated Takato yelled, and the red-dressed brunette nodded without complaint, grabbing her ex-student and leaping up before one of Myotismon's disks, resembling for a split second a hectic bat circling itself, sliced through the space where once stood Takato's feet. Asaji glared at the montage of ragged and well-dressed Crazers, and back up at the disk zooming in a particular trajectory. She grabbed a glass of her as-yet unfinished water from the table behind her and flung it on a semi-circular course soaring above and then down into the disk. The disk remained on its own course but the glass bent to its will, ricocheting miniature missles of water and slivers against the Crazers right below the flying disk. The Crazers gagged as bits of glass and water struck their faces, irritated by both the abrupt wetness and the jagged sharpness of this torrential concotion. While a majority of them laid wiping themselves clean, Gargomon cackled and riddled the floor around them with burning holes from his controlled fury of flashing ammunition. The Crazers didn't recognize anything amiss until the floor moaned and groaned to tell them it was about to kiss the first floor and forceably at that. They yelled and grunted as the second floor crumbled into hundreds of dashed boards, innumerable clouds of dust sprouting to the heavens, and tons of mortal flesh tasting the cruel wood.

"Hah! No one ever messes with one half of the CCW Tag Team Champions!" Gargomon exuberantly rose both his arms, firing them rapidly until a thousand-dollar chandelier stomped on him from above. "Doof!"

"Terrier-I mean, Gargomon!" Henry, Janyuu's biological son, arrived to the scene, kicking over the fragments of chandelier in hopes that his own digimon wasn't a series of fragments in himself.

"I'm A-OK, Henry!" An arm rose from the chandelier, then it dropped wistfully down. "Um, is it too late to change my mind?"

"Takato, can you manage!" Henry stared over at his older stepbrother, who under Asaji's aid began rising to the occasion.

"Ur! Myotismon took Janyuu, Henry! Where is he?!"

"INCOMING!" another blue-haired juvenile made the scene by diving headfirst through a window and rolling down the red rugwork before smarting from a tossled back. It was Jarvis Thatch. What was he doing out of the restaurant and back in? "Ooh, I don't know if Big and Bad is a digimon, but he's a tough un! He's got this portal open and him and the Crazers are getting away. He just threw me like a rag doll, a rag doll! Man, I can't get up and I'm not flesh and blood!"

"Takato, Asaji!" Henry's gray eyes spied something more precarious at the moment. "To your sides!"

Takato and Asaji stared and backed a step off just as two disks almost met the two Hypnos employees. The disks ricocheted and skewered to opposite sides, trails of concrete particles following, through the foundations right beneath the duo, and before they knew it, the floor sharply inclined, a slope descending as the concrete split and the disks rose right against the wall, collapsing the slab, windows and all backward to 100 feet below. Asaji's flawless red dress rubbed against the dusty incline but all her focus was bent against her typically soft knuckles hardening by the second, barely at a grasp with the edge of the floor while crude spheres of rock tumbled and knocked her knuckles, urging her to release. She stared around and noticed Takato was gone, and her face white in fright, she looked down 100 feet below, where the ruins were.

But there were no ruins. It was but a yellow halo dominating where the green grass laid. Could it be....the entrance to the Digital World?! Could Takato have gone there, by accident or design?

Asaji stared back up to regain a grip over the second floor, but a large rolling block struck her womanly face, and the last thought out of her mind was whether she entered the yellow halo or the gates to the world above, because soon.......her eyes clouded in black.  

Finally, the moment you were waiting for. The new season begins next month in Takato Wong 2: Son of Sacrifice! 

!! 


End file.
